Strange Friends
by NorseGirl23
Summary: No one who knew them would have thought they could tolerate each other let alone be friends. They would often be asked how they had met, but they knew no one would have even believed the truth.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please read and review!

We would always be asked the same questions: How did the two of us meet? And, when did we become friends? All were very good questions, and we knew we couldn't tell the full truth because no one would've been able to believe the actual truth if we would have said it.

My mom grew up in deep in the bayous of Louisiana, and she was definitely a true French blue blood at heart, thanks to the efforts of all of the older women in her family. Before the War (the Civil War as the North would call if for some reason) the ancestors of her family were the landed aristocracy in New Orleans with connections to the French nobility, and they would still raise that nobility and grace within the children and grandchildren throughout the different generations. French was still spoken at home among the family, no matter how tenuous their ties to their ancient homeland had been. Her father's family were the complete opposite in every way, knowing the French but Cajun and Creole would always win out. They were not of the landed aristocracy and no ties to the French Nobility, but they still possessed that Southern pride and nobility that would've rivaled even the blue bloods.

Her childhood was a mixture of the high class of Southern society and the "low class" of her father's family. She could shoot better than her father, and she could clean any of her prey with ease. When a brother couldn't handle moonshine, she finished it without even grimacing. My grandpa would proudly proclaim she could survive in the wilderness with a shotgun, some flint, and a knife. Grandma was proud to say she could walk with grace, dance with ease, and be a renowned conversationalist. Not to mention her kind heart and intelligence that one would realize the longer they would speak to her.

She was the oldest of eight, and she was more like a mother than older sister for some of the youngest siblings, but she never minded that. She loved children. Her family had become very close.

It tore at everyone when she had to go to school up in the North. No one was ready for or expecting that kind of a separation, and lots of tears had been shed as she boarded the plane.

My dad grew up in a heavily German household. He knew German because it was the only language allowed to be spoken at home. They grew up in a small community close to Gotham City for business to be done without becoming a logistical nightmare, but was far enough away that the horrors of the city would never descend upon them. It was the closest thing Gotham would ever get to having suburbs.

My dad went to Gotham Academy because it was deemed to be smaller and safer than any of the public schools within that city, and he was smart enough to be allowed to have a scholarship to pay for the very expensive tuition. The same thing was allowed for his two younger brothers. He was quiet and very studious and kept to himself, mostly, but he did show off his dry humor and sarcasm on occasion.

There was a day when he noticed that Bruce Wayne, not too long after the death of both of his parents, was largely left alone by children who had no idea what to make of him, so he had decided to make friends with the boy understanding that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if a fried was close by being sarcastic and trying to lighten the mood without even being too obvious about it.

It had created a friendship that spanned their whole lives, and it was through that friendship that had allowed my parents to meet each other.

It was some kind of charity event, and my dad was chafing at having to wear a tuxedo. He would always say he stopped dead when he saw my mom make her entrance into the large room. She was not considered to be very beautiful in the traditional sense, but it was the way she would smile. My dad said you could tell she was a very good woman, and it shone through her smile, making her look truly beautiful.

She kindly spoke to the host, Bruce, but he wasn't the person she had eyes for. My mom, from the moment she heard my dad make that first sarcastic remark, only focused on my dad, and it was pretty clear she could match him wit to wit. Bruce understood that and didn't try to get in between the two of them, and on their wedding day, only a few months later, he was my dad's best man.

When I was born, Adelaide Maria Fritz, he became one of my godparents.

The whole family only called me Baby because to them that's what I was. I used that to my advantage when I was growing up.

I loved running around the countryside to fish, swim, or play adventure games in the med. In the summer, It was not an uncommon sight to see me running around barefoot in a dingy summer dress with a tangled mess of blonde hair. People would always joke if they would see me limping while wearing shoes the first couple weeks of school, they knew my mom cleaned the dirty soles of my feet and forced me to wear those shoes. They weren't sure if it's from getting used to wearing my shoes or from my mom scrubbing my feet clean. Probably both.

This childhood made me very independent and slightly strange, and I really didn't care about convention or what people had thought of me. Even at a young age, I would always choose doing my own thing over whatever everyone was doing.

That's why no one could believe I became close friends with Damian Wayne, the son and heir of Bruce Wayne and the most violent of the Robins.

* * *

From the very moment I was born, I was raised to believe the world as my own. I was beyond royalty as my mother was the only living child of Ras al Ghul, and I was raised as such.

I received the best education because my grandfather believed I would become greater than Alexander the Great and conquer the whole world. I knew many languages, learned how to command large armies, and rule different countries with different peoples and cultures. Because I was to conquer, I was trained by some of the greatest of my grandfather's men to fight from a very young age. Weakness was never tolerated.

I was a fast learner.

My mother was only rarely in my life during those early years of my childhood. She only wanted to know of my progress before rewarding me with some small amount of affection or punishing me by withholding that small amount of affection. I still looked up to her when I was much younger. She was a saint in my eyes, and from the stories she told me about my father, I saw him as more than human. Almost gold like.

I knew I came from great blood on both sides of my family, and I had carried myself accordingly as was proper for someone of my position.

My father had no idea what to expect from me. I was the complete opposite of his two wards. They were not as arrogant, aloof, or cold, but my father never held that against me. He knew my mother and knew how she had raised me.

Grayson always felt I never acted like a child, and he was concerned he never once saw me smile or heard me laugh. Not even close. He decided he was going to become something pretty close to my big brother and try to help me become normal. It was going to be very hard work for him, but he was patient.

It took almost two years before he was able to see me act like a normal child.

The whole family was not sure what to make of my friendship with the young girl everyone felt the need to call Baby, but after awhile, they were not complaining. I was becoming normal.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please read and review!

The day we met was pretty normal for me. It was in the middle of the summer, so I did what I always did. I ran around the small community, barely drinking any water because that had cut into my time which was not good. My dad found me in one of my favorite trees. He stood below me, looking up at me as he had crossed his arms.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"We're having guests for dinner," he told me. "We're trying to get you cleaned up."

Those were the words I dreaded the most, and I made a face at him. I only tolerated being cleaned up on Sundays because Grandma could be pretty scary, and it was one day of the week. Only temporary, in my mind.

"No," I said, holding tight to the closest part of the trunk of the tree.

My dad gave out a long-suffering sigh. "So, it's going to be one of those days. . ."

He climbed into the tree, and I laughed my very phlegmy laugh. My dad was somehow able to carry me out of the tree, and he carried me back to the house, though I did squirm a lot to make it pretty difficult for him. When he walked into the house, he handed me to Mom, and she gave me a glass of water as she started to brush the tangles out of my hair. I had to sit still despite how painful it was for me as my mom brushed my hair. It dried as an extremely tangled mess. I was probably drinking far too much water far too quickly which could never end well for anybody.

She took the glass out of my hand. "You'll make yourself sick."

I sulked as we waited for Dad's friend and the three boys which didn't take long as both of my parents went to greet those guests. My mom looked at me, quirking an eyebrow at me and made a small hand gesture at me, and I knew had needed to walk over to them and greet them. I knew the older two, Dick and Tim, but the younger and more scowling one was a mystery to me. He wore a slight and aloof expression of someone who believed he was much better than the people around him, and I glared at him, wanting to punch him in the face.

Then, I started to really feel a little queasy, and I went to go to the bathroom. Tim stood in my way, wanting to talk about something, but he didn't get the picture I didn't want to speak to him right then. I threw up all over him, and Mom quickly went to take me to the bathroom before she went to help the poor boy.

I swore I heard the third and sullen sounding boy say:

"Even she finds you distasteful, Drake."

* * *

"I do not see why we have to go there," I said when Father told me we needed to go to some dinner that was hosted by a close and old friend of his. "And, I especially do not see why we must make the effort for them."

Grayson had done his best to explain to me how good a friend he was to Father, but I refused to really make sense of it. The only thing that mattered to me at the time was nobility and power one's blood would give to them. To me, the family of his very close friend was not important. As the dutiful son, I obeyed my father and allowed myself to be taken to the home of his friend to have a dinner with that family.

An outsider would have said I sulked the whole drive to the small and inauspicious home of that friend of Father's. If I had to be there as the son's duty to his father, then I wasn't going to ever enjoy it.

I kept my comments to myself about the small and unimpressive home, understanding that one must never insult one's host, especially when they would be serving the food. My expression I started to wear started to catch the attention of our hosts' only child, and she narrowed her eyes at me, clearly understanding what I saw of my surroundings. Or. . .she may have been pretty curious, trying to decide what to make of me. I was a stranger in her home.

She started to glare at me when she realized I saw myself as much greater than the people around her, and it was pretty clear she was pretty irritated by that sort of belief. Her glare was pretty icy, but it never bothered me as I returned a glare for her of my own. She began to seem a little more queasy looking and tried to politely leave, but Drake stopped her to start talking with her. Her eyes flashed with a slight irritation over what was happening. For once, I was interested over what could happen next. The look that passed across her face meant that it was going to be pretty interesting and unexpected.

She threw up all over Drake, and for a moment, she did not look like she felt bad about doing it. That look she gave Drake was like he had deserved it. Because she threw up all over Drake and was not apologetic about it, I decided she could not have been that bad. Her mother quickly walked her out of the room to help her and check to see if she was alright before she quickly walked over to Drake to help clean him.

My sullenness was long gone, and I started to feel very much amused over what had just happened.

"Even she finds you distasteful, Drake," I said to him.

Drake looked back at me and narrowed his eyes, but before he could even respond, the woman rather firmly grabbed his arm and pulled him with her. He knew enough to never argue with that sort of woman.

"Is she alright?" Father asked his friend.

The friend wore a look of concern. "I think she drank too much water far too fast."

He quickly apologized before checking to see if his daughter was alright, and he led her back into the room. She looked much better than before.

"I'm sorry," she said, but by the way her eyes flashed, I could tell she was only saying it to be pretty polite. Drake had irritated her, and she only partially meant her apology.

She was sitting and placed her head in her hands, preferring never to really speak to anyone else for the rest of the night. I walked over to her, making her look up at me.

"What?" She asked me.

Despite her obvious shyness, she had a loud voice when she had wanted it. That took me aback, though I was not going to show it to her.

"Nothing," I quickly replied to her.

She sat up, and as she studied me, she tipped her head to the side.

"Then why d'you walk over here?" She asked me. "If it's nothing. . ."

"I have nothing to speak to you about," I dismissed her. "The fact you are trying to bring out some conversation with me makes me believe you are rather low."

Grayson must have heard that comment, and he was going to step in to apologize for me and diffuse the situation. She, though, actually seemed to be very amused by that, and she cackled loudly.

"That's good," she said, still snorting. "You're not that bad."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please read and review!

I slowly started to become a little better, and when Mom walked into the room, she gave me a look. I stood up and walked over to Tim.

"I'm sorry about that," I told him, looking down at my feet. "I'm not sick. I just drank far too much water."

He brushed it all aside. "It's fine. It's fine. As long as you're not sick."

Mom quirked up an eyebrow at me. She could see through my apology as not being done right, but she was not going to comment on it right then and ruin the apparent sincerity of my apology. Everything went back to what they were doing from before I decided to throw up on someone.

That sort of left me alone with the other boy who was my age. Unlike a little bit before, I was willing to speak to him.

"You know. . ." I said, drawing the word out to get his attention. "I didn't really catch your name. 'Cause. . .I wasn't really paying attention."

"I am Damian Wayne," he patiently told me, still having that pinched look of someone looking down his nose at me. "The only legitimate heir. . ."

I rolled my eyes. "Who talks like that?"

He gave me a surprised look. It was like no one really spoke to him like that before.

"I do," he said, and I felt a little bit bad about that.

"Yeah. . ." I said. "I can see that, but why?"

"I was raised to be more cultured," he quickly replied. "Which is clearly not something you had learned."

"I'm eleven," I said, defending myself. "Deal with it."

He quirked up an eyebrow at me, but he didn't seem at all offended by my choice of words or my tone of voice.

"Then, you must realize. . ." But, he realized what he would say to me would be ignored by me. "Then, you should give the correct politeness by telling me your name."

"Adelaide Fritz," I told him, and I started to make a face at him. "But, I don't like my name. Call me Baby."

He gave me a look. "I will not call you Baby."

"So, I don't care."

"It is not appropriate."

"And, why not?" I asked him. "It's what everyone in my family calls me."

"Well, I refuse to call you by that name," he remarked. "There are some things I refuse to call a girl. . .even if she is common."

"Common?" I snapped at him, narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm not common."

"Because your blood is not prestigious," he explained.

"Who cares?" I replied. "I don't care. No one around here cares."

"I am a Wayne," Damian said to me.

"Then you shouldn't really care, either," I told him. "Your father doesn't."

He became quiet at that as we were ushered to go to dinner.

* * *

There were very few people who would tell me off. My childhood reinforced the belief I was much better than all of the people around me. No one told me that what I would say or do was wrong, and my father and Grayson had no idea what to do with me. They knew my early childhood could not have been ideal, but they were not sure how help me, as Grayson would later say to me.

"I am a Wayne," I said to her.

She tipped her head to the side like she was trying to see if I was serious or not.

"Then, you shouldn't care," she said to me. "Your father doesn't."

She had the nerve to tell me off, and that made me extremely angry. She had no right.

I went to snap at her right before dinner, and she actually ignored me. That made me even more angry, and the next comment I had made at her had her turn around to look at me and glare at me. The corners of her mouth began to quiver, and at the time, I believed she was working to hide her strong emotions.

That was when she had cracked a small smile before she started to cackle.

"Nice," she was saying to me. "Nice." She snorted. "So. . .you just ditched your well breeding there."

She may have felt justified to tell me off, but she was trying to playfully tease me. I kept snapping at her, and she would respond in a way that would end with us arguing with each other. In the end, we were separated from each other by the adults, and she kept making faces at me through the rest of the dinner.

I did my best to keep myself from reacting to anything she would do to me because that would only encourage her even more. My silence and lack of response also encouraged her.

The moment we walked out of the house, Father looked down at me, and I knew he had wished for me to explain to him why we were arguing with each other.

"She started it," I defended myself, grimacing a little when I realized I sounded too much like a child. It was unacceptable even though I was eleven.

Grayson walked out, and he wore a baffled expression on his face. At the time, I would have said it was nothing new. One of Fritz's parents had spoken to him about what had happened, trying to explain what was really going on, but I was starting to realize she was a wild card even to her own closest of family members.

"Actually," he said. "Her parents said that they were only playing." He quirked up an eyebrow at me, actually looking pretty relieved over that truth. "She doesn't think he's that bad."

"Of course," I quickly said. For some reason, I had wanted her approval, but I was not going to admit that out loud to anyone. "The uncivilized would be impressed by the civilized."

Father had started to wear a very thoughtful look when he learned about that. Apparently, that was how it was decided she would be an acceptable acquaintance of mine.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please read and review!

Following that meeting, someone thought it was a great idea for me and Damian to spend more time together, so there were days that summer when we would spend the whole day at each other's houses. I have no idea why they felt it was even a good idea, but I was willing to follow along with it. I wasn't sure about him at the time, but he wasn't wearing that bored and arrogant scowl. It was only a blank expression, so that may have been a good thing.

That first day he came to the house, he wore expensive, nice-looking clothing, so it was pretty clear he was well aware of the wealth and prestige his family name would have brought to him. I quirked up an eyebrow at him as I finished eating my apple. That might be interesting.

"You look like you only grew up in the wild," Damian commented to me.

My hair was back to being that tangled mess it always had been. I went swimming the afternoon before and allowed my hair to dry into that mess, and the sundress I grabbed was pretty old and fraying parts to the hem and lots of grass stains.

"Close enough," I told him, tossing the apple core into the container Dad would take to the compost out back in the garden. "But, it might be too freezing for some of the year if that was possible."

We walked out of the house, and I led him to the creek, and at first, I tried to explain to him everything about the area, only to be ignored. I pursed my lips together as I narrowed my eyes at him, and I was thinking up a way to bring him down to Earth. He needed to do that.

I was in the water, wading my way through by the shore, and I was talking at him as I picked up different rocks to get the most perfect flat throwing stone. He would make some snippy comment, making me to quickly reply with something more acidic but more sweet sounding. He seemed to be a little please about how I had responded to him since it's pretty clear that no one who was not a part of his family really even tried to do with him.

He had been lulled into a false sense of security, and he made the mistake of being too close to the shore to get by unscathed. Too perfect for me.

"I do not see why you do this for so long," Damian remarked. "You must be simple to find this so amusing."

I cackled. "It would help if you join, but I guess. . ."

I splashed him by scooping as much of the water as I could to get more water splashed at Damian. He med the reflexive movement to protect his face before he quickly took off his shoes and socks, and he was in the water, trying to get some kind of revenge.

"Now," I told him. "This is much better."

"It is childish," he sniffed, but he did not stop his actions, no matter how hard he had worked to sound so grown up or sophisticated.

"And," I told him. "You're still doing it."

He paused for a moment to give me a look before he went to pick up a flat rock to throw down the creek.

"I am purely trying to make you become much more intelligent than before."

"What does that even mean?" I asked him.

"I told you before you looked simple," Damian told me. "And, you spend all of your time doing this."

"You can be ridiculous sometimes," I replied. "I was trying to get you to come into the water, and you did. I win."

"This was not even a contest."

"Still. . .I win."

* * *

I should not have been surprised to see how wild she had looked, but I was. Her hair was a tangled mess, so you could not tell what her hair color even was. She was every bit the wild child, and no one really seemed to care about that. They expected her to act in that way.

At least she was wearing shoes, though. I had a feeling it had to do with her mother making her. That woman had a forceful personality where it was necessary. She was trying to make her daughter seem to be civilized, at least partially.

I was standing close to the door, holding the collar of my Great Dane to keep him from running right at her as mother and daughter were quietly speaking with Pennyworth. My dog was growling and so ready to protect his home and his master. He would only attack if I would allow it by removing my hand from his collar.

Fritz, I still refused to call her by that most ridiculous of nicknames, walked over to me, and she reached out to scratch my dog's ears. I went to stop her, understanding my dog would attack her, but when Fritz reached out her hand, the dog started to sniff her hand before licking it. I was even more surprised when Fritz started to pet the dog, and my dog loved the attention he was getting and started to wag his tail.

Fritz looked up me when she stopped petting the dog and wore a confused look.

"What?" She asked with a hint of innocence that colored her voice. She had no idea what to make of my reaction.

"How were you able to do that?" I asked her. "My dog does not like anyone other than myself."

She only shrugged. Only Fritz would have that kind of attitude that nothing needed an in depth explanation. "Dogs like me."

"Tt," I sniffed dismissively. "You probably still smell like your lunch."

"Yeah. . .whatever. . ." She replied, not even being bothered by what I said to her. "You and I both know the truth. And, that's all that matters."

She gave me a small smile, and as always, she treated what I said as something she would not get angry over.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Please read and review!

Me and Damian were close friends. Some how. I considered us to be friends, but Damian never really said anything to that effect out loud. I could tell, though. He could be different from how he had treated everyone else when he dealt with me.

People weren't sure what to really make of that, and over the years, I really enjoyed watching their reactions. It was because I was a teenager with a very warped sense of humor.

The first person to be completely confused over our friendship was Tim Drake. Tim and Damian had this very antagonistic relationship. Damian had hated him for whatever reason, and he would constantly make fun of the older boy. Of course Tim would also say something hateful or just glare at him He would be someone who would not understand or accept someone who would be able to tolerate Damian, and the vice versa was pretty true for Damian was pretty true as well.

I was at Wayne Manor sometime when I was fourteen, and he was able to see that we weren't trying to kill each other. Damian would say something pretty nasty, and I would laugh it off, responding in kind, or just completely ignore him. Apparently, that was enough to seem like we were friends.

There was a time that day when we were talking at each other, and some people, like Tim would've thought we were arguing with each other. That was how we acted around each other. We enjoyed trying to outdo each other, and I had always thought he shouldn't have to be constantly thinking he was the best person in the whole world and needed to lighten up a little.

"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" Tim asked me.

"I don't," I said, crossing my arms as I narrowed my eyes at him. "Maybe you should pay attention more to what we're saying to each other."

"I do," Tim said. "He's horrible."

"No," I replied, keeping as coldly calm as possible. "You never really gave him a chance."

"He was horrible from the beginning. I tried."

"Obviously not," I said, turning back to the room I had walked out of. "He's not that bad."

Damian was standing at the door, and it was pretty clear he had seen and heard everything.

* * *

Fritz was talking with Drake, and at first she did not seem as mad or frustrated as I thought she would be. She had prided herself in tolerating everyone and getting along with them.

"Why do yo let him talk to you like that?" Drake asked her.

That day we had enjoyed arguing with each other, and on that day, I would admit I had sounded pretty horrible. I may have said some pretty horrible things to her, but that only made her cackle. It was pretty clear she was enjoying every moment of that.

"I don't," she said to him, and she was starting to become a little mad at him. Her toleration did not extend to people who allowed their own preconceived notions to cloud their judgement and the way they should see the world. "Maybe you should pay more attention to what we were saying to each other."

"I do. He's horrible."

"No," Fritz said with complete faith in what she was saying was the complete truth as she had shook her head. "You never really gave him a chance."

"He was horrible from the beginning," he said. "I tried."

"Obviously not," she said, and she turned her back on him. She wore a look of outrage and anger of someone working to defend someone she was close to.

Fritz realized I heard and saw everything, but she did not see embarrassed about that fact. In my early childhood, that amount of emotion was considered to be unseemly and embarrassing, so it was still pretty difficult to deal with something like her who would have easily showed her emotions without really even caring or thinking about it. She would always feel the need to defend me even though I would have refused it. That was the type of person she was.

She shook her head and gave me one of her very small smiles as she walked towards me.

"It's no big deal," she told me. "No big deal. . ."

"How can you brush something like that away?" I asked her.

She was clearly bothered about what had happened with Drake, but the moment she shook her head, she was not as bothered any more. Also something that was very much who she was.

"Why should I take the time to be so upset over something that was so trivial?" She quickly asked. Her voice did not betray how bothered she previously had been.

It was something that had made me realize I may have benefitted for have knowing Fritz. From the very beginning she would have defended me without question or an expectation of anything in return even after the many times I acted terribly towards her from thinking and believing I was much better than her. There were times when I was so close to acting like her, and I was starting to see that it was not a weakness but more of a strength.

Mother and Grandfather made me believe there was nothing good that would have come from knowing someone with that much of low class and low blood as Fritz. They could not be trusted, but Fritz proved that belief to be much wrong. She was someone I could trust, and I would never have regretted it in the past.

"I wish I could see the world the same way you do," I found myself actually saying out loud to her. I inwardly cringed. That was not something I should have said out loud to her let alone even admit to it to another person. Mother would have never allowed that to happen, but it did.

She snorted to allow the two of us to forget about what I had said and try to make it seem like it never had really happened.

"I think the world can only handle one of me," she said before cackling, but she was still processing over what I had said to her.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Please read and review!

Fritz would sit around in the most ridiculous manners whenever I would come over to her home. There was nothing she would do that would ever surprise me after a few of those strange sights. That day was nothing new to me. For some reason, she was hanging upside down as she started to read some very old and very frayed book that was clearly her favorite, and I do not know how she was able to do something like that for extended periods of time.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

Fritz dropped her book to the ground. "I'm reading. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Normal people would curl up in a seat to read a book," I remarked.

She snorted at me. "Oh, really? Since when do I ever seem to be normal?"

"You said it. Not me," I replied to her.

She struggled to climb out of the tree, and I went to help her climb out of that tree. When she was on the ground, she gave me one of her shy smiles.

"Hey, thanks," she said before she went to pick up her book.

"What was the emergency you were going on and on about?" I asked her.

"No emergency," she replied, walking into the house.

"No emergency?" I asked her as I went to follow her into the house. "You texted me to get here 'ASAP.' That sounds like an emergency to me."

"If it was an emergency," Fritz told me. "I would've told you it was an emergency."

"Something tells me you would have still said 'ASAP,'" I told her as I followed her into the room she walked quickly towards.

She cackled a little bit to herself as she went to sit in front of her computer, and she went to turn on the computer. "Are you sure you alright?"

"Yes," I said as I pulled a chair over to sit next to her in front of the computer. I was confused a little bit, I would admit. That question was completely out of nowhere. "I am fine. Why?"

"Because you're so full of jokes," she said, one of the corners of her mother quirked up with her amusement. "And, you're almost funny today. How did that even happen?"

"I guess it was one of those days," I replied to her. "What did you want to show me?"

"I was bored," she said to me as she started to mess around on her computer. "I started to mess around with some things."

She showed me different traffic light cameras that she had gotten into in Gotham City, and she showed me the different floor plans to all of the buildings within the city.

"What is this?" I asked her, trying to keep my emotions under control. I had wanted her to admit to what she was doing before I could show my reaction.

"I hacked into those systems," she told me, and she explained how she was able to do that. She had started to talk quickly like she would do when she was excited about something as she was trying to explain to me everything she had done to make that even possible.

I shook my head, not allowing her to continue with that kind of an explanation. "Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? You could get into serious trouble. Not to mention the fact there are people in Gotham who would do anything to get you to use those skills to help them and only them."

"So?" She asked. "I trust you, and you're a good person."

I helped her to close out of those programs she had gotten herself into, and I held her two hands between my own as I looked into her eyes.

"I did not see this," I told her. "Never talk about this to anyone."

She pulled her hands away from me, and she shook her. "You're overreacting, Dee."

"And," I quickly replied. "You are too naive."

"But," she went to say, but I shook my head at her.

"There are always consequences, Fritz," I said to her.

"So, that's why we're friends," she replied.

"What? Why?" I asked her. It was hard to see her different leaps of logic sometimes.

"I apparently need a babysitter," she replied. "And, you need someone to boss around."

"That is. . .not it," I told her. I could not really think of why we had gotten along so well together. We were far too different and came from different backgrounds that it would have been impossible for the two of us to even tolerate each other let alone be friends. It was hard to describe why I did not mind having her around.

She snorted. "I know."

It was clear she liked to joke around what other people would have been saying about us. She was the type of person who would have found all of that entertaining. It was hard for me to do that since I had always been pretty serious.

"Remember what I told you," I warned her.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, rolling her eyes. I was still able to see that twinkle that was in them, so I knew she was clearly up to something. "Got it. Be careful."

I looked at her for that moment. In those years we had been friends, I knew she could be impulsive which, if I had to be honest with myself, was cute when we were younger. Now that we were a little older, that impulsiveness was going to get her seriously hurt or killed. It took all of the mental power I had to keep her from getting herself killed. She was right. I was her babysitter, and most of the time, I did not have a problem with that. It was only when she did not want to listen to anything I had wanted to tell her what to do was when it would make it even more difficult.

Whenever she would laugh or smile at me, I had this feeling it was all going to be worth it.

"Maybe you should use your computer to study," I told her. "Like normal people would do."

"I don't need to study," she told me. "The school work's easy."

"You are in a school full of rednecks," I told her. "The lowest common denominator would find the schoolwork difficult."

"Yeah. . .well. . ." She had replied, not sounding too happy about that remark. "Not all of us can afford private tutors."

"I know," I said. "You have way too much free time on your hands."

"Hey now. . ." She said. "You can't just change the subject."

"Then we would never be able to have a normal conversation."

It was worth it.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Please read and review!

One of my mom's sisters came to stay at the house for her spring break from college. She was a few years older than me and starting out in college. That week she wasn't supposed to be with us, but her previous plans sort of fell through. The real reason seemed to really make her mad, but she refused to tell Mom about it.

I could tell she was not going to deal with it that well, and I hated how she had to deal with it. She was never the person who was supposed to be angry or bitter. That was my aunt who could always be happy and easy going and free spirited.

If she wasn't going to talk to my mom about it, then I was going to talk to her about it.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. "I thought you were going to spend some time with your boyfriend."

She made a face at me. "Yeah. . .I thought so, too."

I squeezed her hand with a way to give her some reassurance. "So. . .what had happened?"

"I spent so much time with him," she said to me. Her name was Angela. "I thought I fell in love with him."

"You thought?" I asked her. She was coldly furious over what she had to tell me.

"I was talking to someone in one of my classes," she said to me. "Turns out he was dating her, too."

"Wow. . .really?" I said, and I wasn't happy over what she was telling me. I was mad at him for her. "How could he do that to you?"

"That's why I'm here," she said. "I couldn't face him."

I was going to say something pretty cliched to make her feel better. Like there were other guys in the world, and she could be able to find the perfect guy. I had to stop myself.

"He's the guy who loves his car, right?" I asked her.

"Obsesses," she corrected, but she was able to agree with me.

"Does he ever lock his car?" I asked her, and my mind was really starting to work very quickly. I was coming up with some kind of perfect revenge plan to get back at him. Maybe that was what she had needed.

She quirked up an eyebrow at me. "No."

"Good," I told her. "That makes my job much easier."

I gave her a mischievous look and started to cackle my phlegmy laugh.

"Why do I get the feeling this won't end well?" She told me, but she understood exactly what I was talking about. "And, why do I not care?"

It might have had something to do with my cackle. It was the closest thing I had to an evil laugh.

We were in the store looking through the different aisles, trying to find the right things to ruin that car. I grabbed some cleaning gloves, and Angela pulled out some hot peppers, raising them up for me to be able to see them. I cracked a smile, and I went to grab some frozen fish.

That was what we were going to do to get back at the two-timer who broke my favorite aunt's heart. It was probably in complete contrast to everything that would be done in Gotham City, but we didn't really care about that.

Later that night, we were in Gotham City, and my aunt showed me to that car. We cut open the peppers, and we ran them on anything he would touch: door handles, rear view mirror, steering wheel. The hot pepper juices would stay there for days, and his hands would be covered in them. Then he would touch his eyes or other sensitive parts and irritate them as well. Angela opened his trunk, and she pulled out some of the things in the trunk to open a compartment and hid the frozen fish in there before setting everything right before we disappeared.

Angela looked up before climbing back into her car. "Look up there. Someone saw us."

I looked up to see the figure of Robin. I couldn't really see the features of his face, but the colors of the suit were very obvious even in the night light that was very dark.

"Yeah. That's Robin," I told her. "I think he'd leave us alone."

I don't know how I knew that, though. There was something about him that had made it pretty obvious. I could trust him really well.

* * *

I was looking into something, and since it was not dangerous, Father allowed me to be on my own. As I moved between two buildings, I caught some movement and some voices, and I looked down to see Fritz and another older woman in the car and making sure no one would see them. I knew they were vandalizing that car for a reason known only for the two of them.

That made me shake my head at her. She normally would not have done something that outrageous, but it was pretty clear her family would never have reigned her in. They looked up at me, and Fritz whispered something to reassure the older woman before they drove off. Fritz would never have acted like that if they were doing something truly bad. I trusted her to make the right decision for herself. She was never that good of a liar, especially when she was going to hurt an innocent person who did not do any personal harm to her. she was far too nice to be that calculating.

There came a day when I was at her house that week, and the other older woman was there, apparently there to wait for her boyfriend or something as strange as that. The older man walked into the room, and he was wearing big sunglasses over his eyes.

"Angie," he was saying which made Fritz look over at him when the woman walked over to him. "What's wrong?"

"Oh. . .nothing," she said to him, but I could hear she was really working to keep herself from screaming at him or clawing his eyes out.

I would be the first to admit I was surprised to see someone who shared the same blood as Fritz could even know how to show that kind of restraint. "I'm staying with the family and spending some time with them. I'm sorry. . ."

He went to leave with her, and she turned around to give Fritz a look before leaving with him. When they were gone, I gave her a look.

"What was that about?"

Her eyes flashed mischievously before she cackled her phlegmy laugh, but even then, I could see she was dead serious about something.

"You'll see."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Please read and review!

My actions with my aunt, Angela, were interesting to deal with as we waited for the most interesting ending to the whole thing. I could become very patient if I wanted to be. It had been unseasonably warm that end of March, so spring break for my aunt was the same for her in Gotham as it would have been for Florida. It made the frozen fish cook more easily in his car.

He would always call Angela to complain about this gross smell in his car that he couldn't find the source to no matter how hard he had look for it. The smell would get worse and worse as time had passed. It was pretty entertaining to deal with, and Angela would always have him on speaker phone whenever he would call her.

It was pretty difficult to keep ourselves from laughing too hard when he was on the phone. We didn't need to alert him that we were the ones who messed with his car. His reactions were so perfect.

There came a day when Damian was over at the house, and Angela got the phone call from her soon-to-be-ex boyfriend. Angela was suddenly at my side with the speakerphone on, so I could hear the current ranting.

"You know what they had found in the trunk?" He was saying, clearly outraged. "Half-rotting fish!" You know what they had to do. . . ?!"

He was extremely mad over what had to happen with his car, and Damian looked at me when the conversation was over. I looked back at him, making direct eye contact with him, but he only shook his head.

"I think I should be upfront with you. . ." Angela was starting in on her break-up speech as she had left the room, and I was starting to feel very proud of her.

Damian quirked up an eyebrow at me. "Did you really have to ruin his car?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. He had been trying to be the strong guiding hand for me, and sometimes that was what I had needed. There were times, like that exact moment, when he had no idea what was going on. He thought I wouldn't have been able to notice what he was doing, but I could see it all very clearly. Sometimes. . .it really irritated.

"He was seeing someone else when he was dating her," I explained to him. "But really, his only love was that car of his. She wanted him to suffer at least for a little bit."

Damian's face remained expressionless. He had hated to be caught into something he may not have fully understood, so he would act like he understood and kept it as nothing more.

"She wanted to do worse, but I had to hold her back," I told him.

He gave me a close look, and he shook his head. Whatever I had told him must have bothered him for a moment. "Restraint? You?"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. . ."

He didn't need to be more arrogant. The real reason could be the fact I would have to take some of the few better qualities within him even though they were really difficult to see when you first meet him, but they're there. I was lucky to be able to see them in him.

* * *

Fritz was a little too please when they had listened to that phone conversation between her aunt and some man. I felt a little disappoint in her. She was not supposed to be the one who would enjoy the misfortunes of others, but there she was, working very hard not to outright laugh at what was being said. Fritz could be very ridiculous sometimes. . .

Her aunt quickly left the room to have a different conversation. Fritz gave me a questioning look.

"Did you really have to ruin his car?" I asked her.

She narrowed her eyes at me, and I could tell she was not too happy about what I had said to her. I hit something within her without even realizing it.

"He was seeing someone else when he was dating her," she explained to me. She wanted me to understand her. "But, his only love was his car. She wanted him to suffer at least a little bit."

I only looked back at her to see what else she was going to say to me. There really was more to what she was saying, and she had always seemed to be an open book to me for as long as we had known each other.

She started to sheepishly look around us. "She wanted to do worse, but I had to hold her back."

Fritz knew I caught her in the act.

"Restraint? You?"

I found that incredibly difficult to believe. If Fritz was truly angry at you, then she would definitely let you know about that right away. She was the type of person who would claw your eyes out or outright punch you even if it had meant it broke her hand. Restraint was not something she would understand.

She rolled her eyes at me, but she was very close to smiling at me. Whatever about what I said to her or how I had said it really entertained her, but she was not going to be too upfront about it.

"Whatever. . ."

I looked at her, trying to figure her out, but there were times when even she could not be an open book which could be pretty strange. She was always easy to read which made handling her impulsive personality easy for most of the time. One would always know where to stand with her. I could never have said the same thing about most people.

"I thought she was supposed to be the responsible adult?" I asked her. "That does not sound responsible."

She tipped her head to the side, and she had to be thinking for that moment. Sometimes she really needed to find the real reasons behind what she would have to do, and sometimes she needed to come up with one.

"I can take care of everyone," she told me. "If I like you, I'm on your side from the very beginning."

"I do not need your care," I quickly replied.

Fritz quirked up an eyebrow at me, and she was pretty amused about that. "Still. . .I would always be there for you. No matter what."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Please read and review!

Me and some of my other friends from school were walking through the faraway parking lot to the football field. It was going to be one of those years when we would play Gotham Academy in Gotham City. Both schools had hated it, but I guess that's why we were called rivals.

The people of Gotham Academy hated us because we were lower than they were. We were all farmers or children of farmers, so this school I did go to for awhile went against everything they stood for. We were simple and didn't mind it at all, and there was no need for us to get fancy things. We could make do with the little things and make them last for the longest time. They were uncomfortable around us and would do anything to keep from dealing with us for an extended period of time.

We didn't like them either. They're snobs. Pure and simple. I always thought they would screw up their eyes from looking down their noses at the people they decided were not good for them. Cross eyed, mostly. Or, they were going to do the whole Habsburg thing of marrying within the family to keep everything within the family for a long as possible. Expensive things were very important to them because they were seen as the only acceptable things. They never wanted to deal with us unless they had to for business.

The games all became an intense rivalry for both of our schools. The air around the court or fields became super charged, and if any side said or did the wrong thing, there was going to be major violence. I'm surprised none of the athletes got seriously hurt doing those games. Just because.

"There are people who actually drive themselves to school?" One of my friends had asked me. She held some of the stronger beliefs about them because her father had worked for one of the companies in Gotham. Barely minimum wage and no benefits with very long shifts, doing very dangerous things.

A lot of people didn't have the luck to work for Wayne Enterprises.

"Status symbol?" I suggested, and I shook my head. "There are some who go here who aren't part of the big families. They're here on scholarships."

"Because they're very acceptable to them," she said to me.

They were some of the few people who were never going to understand anything that would happen with Gotham Academy. I don't think they were willing to ever understand anything that could challenge their world views.

"It's going to be difficult for them," I explained to her. "They're called charity cases."

My friend rolled her eyes for that moment. "Yeah. Okay."

I knew she wasn't that convinced about anything I would ever say to her.

We met some people who went to Gotham Academy who were loudly speaking with each other, and they stopped talking when they saw us walked passed them. There those looks of people who saw something pretty disgusting. Nothing else was pretty new about that.

I did what my mom and her mother had taught me. When you're dealing with people who don't particularly like you, you be very nice to them and don't show how much they piss you off. I politely greeted them as I walked passed them and gave them a small smile, and I firmly pulled my friend with me to keep her from saying anything that could cause any kinds of trouble.

"Fun wrecker," she told me, and I could hear she wasn't being fun or lighthearted about it. She clearly was pretty mad over pulling her away from her favorite past time of picking a fight.

"Oh. . .I thought I was Debbie Downer," I replied, but I wasn't really mad at her. That was something we would always do. Oddly enough. . .I was the mother of our friendship.

"Both. You're both," she said, and she did gave me a small smile.

The game didn't start for awhile, but the air was still pretty charged. Anything could set us off and try to kill each other. It could become worse. Way worse, if no one was going to be careful.

We were standing around waiting for some of our group to start to show up, and that was when Damian had appeared. I never would have expected him to be there, even when I invited him. That was never something he would ever do, feeling like he was just a little above us plebeians. I took that as a sign he needed to loosen up a little which was why I had invited him.

My friend looked at me and shook her head in disappointment. She could never understand my friendship with Damian. No one really could understand. It's something I would never care about.

"Hey, Dee," I said to him and went to give him a hug. "I'm glad you can make it."

"Turns out I was not as busy as I thought I would be," he said to me, giving this sort of half-hug.

"So you came here?" I asked him. "Good."

I tried to have him join the group, but my friends would not allow it to even happen. He was from that elite group of people who went to Gotham Academy, so even though he was a Wayne, no one could really tolerate him that well. It didn't help he had arrogant attitude, but they could never understand why he would posses that sort of outlook on life. It's something he needed to do to protect himself. He had a pretty difficult childhood, I could tell, before he had lived with his father.

I could blame the very charge atmosphere of the night. My friend started to outright insulting Damian. She didn't know him that well, but she started to blame and insult him. I glared down at her, probably one of the few times in my life I would ever do something like that, but what she had did wasn't something I would ever tolerate.

"What's your problem?" I asked her.

"He's my problem," she told me.

"And now," I was going to say, but that was when Damian pulled me away from her. He could clearly see what I was going to do, and he was going to stop me before I would do something that would get me into a lot of trouble. "You're mine."

I looked up at him and shook my head. He was wearing a mysterious expression on his face as he looked down at me. That was probably why he was so emotionally aloof and arrogant. It was to keep himself from getting hurt.

"You're defending them?" My friend screeched. By that point, I was starting to wonder if I should maybe reconsider our friendship. "They judge us without even knowing us."

I tipped my head to the side and snorted at her. "Sounds exactly what you just did."

Damian pulled me with him, definitely to keep me from doing something stupid. I turned my back on her. I was going to keep true friends close to me and be very protective and supportive of them, and I knew Damian was one of them.

"Hey," I said up to Damian. "Don't let her get to ya."

"Tt," Damian responded, but I still couldn't read his face. "I was not."

"You have me," I told him. "And, whether you like it or not, I'll always stay by your side."

"Good to know."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Please read and review!

There was one strange factor within the country of my father, and it had to do with sports. I could understand the need to show that you were better than the people around you. It was the same way when I grew up with Mother and Grandfather, only it had to do with how well one could fight or how many people one had killed. The sports angle was something that I would never understand, but I would never say that one out loud.

It did not take me long to figure out when I went to Gotham City that Gotham Academy had one rival they loved to hate. It was the school Fitz would go to. I could understand why Fritz would not like that school I went to. I could understand why Fritz would not like that school I went to. She came from a community where hard work was important and treating your fellow man with respect and care was valued. The people of Fritz's community had to work for many of the powerful and rich families, and since it was Gotham, corruption and extreme "difficulties" made earning enough money to get by started to become impossible. I could understand their hatred for Gotham Academy as the symbol of their difficult lives and the generation to come.

I could not see why the students of Gotham Academy and their families hated that school. Fritz would be the first to admit that since I dealt with her on a daily basis. I would be the type of person I once was when I had to start living with Father. Actually, there were still times I had that sense of superiority. They were poor, some barely scraping by. Many were farmers and were very content with that fact of life, and some worked for those companies run by the powerful and rich families of Gotham City and because the conditions were pretty difficult within those companies, and the workers would do anything to get safer conditions for their families. They had no right to voice their opinions because they had no voice because there was no status. Money talks, and they had no money.

Fritz always said those games could be very charged, and everyone was too close to getting into a fight. She still invited me to watch that football game with her and some of her friends.

"I will not make any kind of promises," I told her. Father would have needed my help as Robin, so there was a chance I could not be at the game with her. I also knew what her friends had thought about me.

She tipped her head to the side, and she seemed to be incredibly curious over what I had said to her. Maybe I should have chosen my words a little more carefully if her reaction was anything to go by.

"Wait. . .what would you be doing?" She asked me.

"Just something for Father," I quickly and automatically said to her.

"What could that be?" She asked me. She was not going to back down about it, and Fritz could be that stubborn sometimes. "I don't think your dad would ever be that controlling."

"He is not. . ." I said to her and shook my head.

Fritz looked at me pretty closely before she shrugged. She was never going to forget about that, but she understood when I was not going to tell her anything or could not tell her anything.

"I would look into it," I promised her. "But, I cannot make any promises."

She seemed to accept that from me, and she went back home that night, never once speaking about what had drawn her curiosity. Fritz may have been impulsive, but she could still be pretty patient when she had to be.

Father walked into the room, and I could tell he had heard what we were talking about.

"She's pretty clever," Father remarked. "You'll need to be careful about her."

"I can see that, Father," I admitted. We had a lot to lose if she ever figured out one of our biggest secrets, but she was not the type of person to do that. If she had figured even a small part of it out, she would have kept it to herself and never speak about it to anyone, not even us. "But, she will never let go of it."

"I'm going to the Watchtower that night," Father said to me, giving me an out to not have to be Robin that night unless absolutely needed. "Maybe going to that game would keep her from asking too many questions."

I doubted that. She could be just as stubborn as she was impulsive and curious. I think Father just wanted an excuse to make me act like an adolescent and live like I had a normal life. He found one.

"Alright," I said to my father.

"Don't act like it's a punishment," Father said to me.

"I am not," I replied. "I was not that sure what could happen that night."

The invitation was for me to watch the game with her and her friends, and I knew what her friends would have thought about me and people like me. Fritz could become explosive with her anger when it was hit just right, and she would have said or done something she would regret. I did not want to cause her to sever ties with her other friends. Because in the end, she would do that.

The night of that football game was warmer than it had been all week, proving that nature was trying to force everyone outside to watch that game. It created a very charged atmosphere all around that part of Gotham City. I would not have been surprised that some of us would get into a couple of fights over how that simple and pointless game would go.

I could hear Fritz's loud and cackling laughter, and I walked into that general direction. She was with her group of friends on the all-weather track, loudly talking and laughing with each other. All conversation ended when I had appeared, and the only person who was even thrilled to see me was Fritz. The others tried to be very polite, but there was only one who was openly hostile to me and did not even try to hide it. I expected that, and I sort of appeared emotionally closed off during that whole encounter.

That friend was not happy to see me, and she started to openly insult me. I was not going to strike back at her. She was Fritz's friend, and I knew it would have hurt her if had struck back at her friend. That was when Fritz would start to glare at her friend, but that friend never too that hint and continued to insult me.

Fritz and her friend had started to bicker with each other, and I could tell she was going to claw out her friend's eyes or something like that. I gently grabbed her arm to make sure she stayed by my side, never letting go of her arm until she would calm down.

"You're defending them?" Her friend demanded of her. "They judge us without even knowing us."

Fritz tipped her head to the side, and her eyes flashed. She was starting to cut the girl out of her life. She was not going to waste any more time with her. "Sounds exactly what you just did."

I pulled her with me as I started to walk us away from there. Mostly to get her out of a situation that would have made her do something she would eventually regret, but that was only what I was going to say out loud to anyone. There was a main reason why I wanted to get her out of there. What had just happened really hurt her. Shew as scowling more than almost smiling or laughing. She was upset. Very upset.

Fritz was really good at defending the people she was loyal to, and I was lucky to have that sort of loyalty. It was very hard to come by for someone like me.

They way she looked up at me made me want to wrap an arm around her shoulders to do my best to comfort her. I never liked to see her hurt. She was supposed to be the happy and lighthearted one.

"Some people do not like to see the world the way you do," I quietly told her. "Do not worry too much about it."

"Still. . ." She said, but she shook her head. "But, I'm not going to waste my time agonizing over it."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Please read and review!

Even though I lost one friend because she could never tolerate people who were different from her, I still had others who were more understanding and accepting. They were a little older than me, so they had their driver's licenses before me and hand-me-down cars that could barely start unless all circumstances were in the right place. That kind of freedom was pretty awesome.

We would drive into Gotham to see some movies over the weekends, or we would spend the weekends at each other's houses. Our parents did not have a problem with it because we were good students and never got into any kind of trouble. I still had a couple of months before I would ever get my license, and I was starting to become more and more antsy about it.

I finally got my license in the early winter, and I was super excited about it. Freedom. I didn't need to worry about needing any parent to take me anywhere.

The first couple of weeks since I got my license were pretty okay. The weather wasn't that bad, so the roads around me town and into Gotham weren't that bad. Winter couldn't have been that bad. My parents were just two people who really love to worry too much.

There came a Saturday morning after a nasty snow storm and freezing rain that had made the roads pretty treacherous. I was too inexperienced when it came to driving, and I was driving far too fast for the conditions. I barely made it into Gotham before I had wrecked my car.

That old car slammed into one of the supports to one bridge, and I could only remember that intense pain before I lost consciousness. It all happened far too quickly for me to even be sure what had exactly happened. Everything was fragmented images and blurry memories.

* * *

I remember seeing that car accident, and I called it in almost automatically. Help would arrive for that driver in time, but I could tell the accident was pretty bad. If I had a belief in a higher power, I would have been hoping that higher power would intervene in any way to help that person.

I ran to the wrecked car, and I really started to wish I held a belief in a higher power. The unconscious and injured driver was Fritz. Blood was running down her face from a cut on her forehead and from what could have been a broken nose, and when I looked down to her legs, I could see the bone of one leg was sticking out of the skin. At least she was breathing at the moment.

"Fritz. . .what. . .were. . ." I was saying, and that was one of the few times. I had ever allowed myself to lose my control and not be cool, calm, and collected for a short moment. "You'll pull through. I know you will. . .you are far too stubborn about that."

I did my best to help her with what little supplies I had possessed. I put pressure on the cut on her forehead and made sure she was not going to choke on her blood from her bloody nose while trying to keep her head supported until the paramedics had arrived, and I could barely watch as she was worked on very quickly before she was loaded into the back of the ambulance.

She better up alright. Better. She was far too stubborn to just give up over something as trivial as a car accident.

* * *

I don't remember how long I had been out. It must have been long enough because I wasn't in the wrecked car anymore but in a hospital bed with lots of pain meds coming into my body. One of my legs was in a cast, and I didn't really want to move my leg without feeling the pain.

I couldn't believe I had a car accident, and for that moment, even though I was incredibly high from the pain meds, I felt bad for my mom and my dad and all of the worry they had to have been feeling.

Mom was in the room, quietly talking to my nurse at the end of my bed, and the conversation ended when they realized I was awake. The nurse who my mom worked with realized we should have that moment on our own, and she walked out of the room with a promise that she would check up on me. Mom went to my side, and she carefully sat on the edge of the bed and held my hand as she looked down at me.

"Two things, Baby," my mom told me. "Two things. You're in trouble because you have no idea how to be responsible and drive carefully. You'll be grounded for the foreseeable future." I grimaced, and I could understand that a little. No need for me to argue with her. "And another thing, you scared me and your dad. You have no idea what we thought when we got the call from the police. . ."

She stayed with me for that moment before she had to go back on her rounds as Dad showed up. He was the type of person who could seemingly appear calm and collected, but people would automatically assume he would wear an angry expression on his face. That's usually not the case, though.

That day, he probably was mad, but he was also relieved I seemed to be alright. He was a firefighter, and he saw crashes that were less serious that people had died in. My dad was probably very relieved I didn't die or get too seriously hurt.

Through the haze of all of the pain meds, I felt sick. That's what usually had happened when I was given very strong meds. At least I wasn't feeling the pain, so I couldn't really complain over what was happening.

"They're saying you were saved by Robin," the nurse had told me when Dad went to go talk to Mom for a short moment.

"I must have passed out before he showed up," I admitted. "Because I don't remember that."

"You're lucky," the nurse told me. "If he hadn't been there. . ."

That was when Damian had arrived, bringing some flowers for me. He was working to keep himself pretty calm and collected, but I could see that his hands were shaking pretty badly.

"Hey, Dee," I said to him, and I could've sworn my voice slurred a little bit. Great.

He stopped himself from walking for a moment, taking in how horrific I had looked. For that moment, he needed to snap himself back into reality.

"You need to be more careful, Fritz," he said to me as he was able to walk over to me. "But, I am happy to see you are alright."

I gave him a small smile. It's always good to have him around. He always made everything seem much better.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Please read and review!

I watched the ambulance take her away, and that was when I had realized that everything was going to be pretty touch and go for her for awhile. That accident was pretty serious, and I did not need to see the injuries to know that. The car was a mess. It was pretty clear. And, I saw her injuries. She was not going to end well, or at least that would be a good chance.

Father had appeared, landing close by the scene of the accident. He studied the scene for a moment, and he looked around us to make sure I would never get hurt by any kind of opportunist.

"You need to be more careful," Father had said to me.

"That was Fritz," I told him.

Father could understand that. "How bad was she."

"Pretty bad." I was not going to voice out loud what had happened to Fitz, at the time. Especially not to Father.

"I have a feeling she's too strong to give up," Father said. "She's very stubborn."

"Tt."

Despite what Father had said, I know he called Fritz's parents to tell them what had happened. He was friends with the doctor who ran the nearest clinic that Fritz would have been taken to.

"I'll ask around," Father ended the conversation for the father of Fritz. "But, I heard it was pretty bad."

I worked to keep myself from reacting to that. We had known each other and been friends for six years at that point, and I would have said I was fond of her. Fritz was not as bad, and that was impossible for me to say, especially when I had first started to live with Father.

"I have a feeling she would have to be in surgery," Father had explained to me. "You don't need to be there right away."

Those few hours before sunlight were one of the longest I would have to deal with in my life, but I knew if would not have been any better if I was there. I was going to give her family the chance to be with her when she would wake up.

That morning, after a couple hours of sleep, I was only picking away at my food. I was never going to say it out loud, but I was actually sick with worry. I had no appetite.

Drake studied me for that moment, and I wanted to scowl back at him. The worry made that impossible.

"So, you are capable of human emotions," Drake remarked to me. He seemed to be pretty amused by what he had just figured out.

"Tt," I could only say. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You're worried," Drake said, but he was still more surprised than anything else. "You would have called me a few names just now."

"I will not waste my time with you," I replied.

"Since we're both here, looks like you are," Drake replied. "You want to talk about it?"

I gave him a look. He could ridiculous sometimes. . .all of the time. "When have I ever given you the indication that I would want to talk to you about my feelings?"

Drake rolled his eyes. "And here I thought you mellowed out a little."

That was when Grayson had appeared, and I had a feeling he had listened to our conversation. He was a little more amused than he should have been, but he was still pretty concerned for me. At that point, he always had and always would.

"Don't aggravate him," Grayson warned.

"Which one would that be directed at?" Drake had asked him.

"Both of you," Grayson said. "It's way to early to police another one of your arguments." That made Drake shake his head. "Anyway, Little D. . ."

"Do not call me that," I said automatically. I hated that nickname, but of course, they would continue to call me by that name.

"We're going to the clinic," he said to me, and I immediately understood what he was talking about.

He drove me to the clinic, but he stopped at a flower shop on the way. I gave him a questioning look and almost scowled at him.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"You're going to give her some flowers," he told me. "Ladies love it when you bring them flowers."

He knew a little bit more about what women would or would not like, and I shook my head even as I walked with him into the flower shop to give her some flowers. I grabbed as few flowers as I could. She would not want me to make too much deal over her.

When we were at the clinic, I could see her parents quietly speaking with each other. her mother was wearing her nursing scrubs, and I felt bad about that. Even though her mother was trying to deal with all of the mixed emotions, she was working, showing the right amount of care and awareness. I could tell they were both incredibly relieved, so it was not that bad. At least at that moment, they stopped speaking with each other when they saw me, and her mother gave me a smile in greeting before going on with her rounds. Her father gave me a curt nod, but he hung back in the hallway to know and hear everything.

I walked into the room, and I could hear the nurse was talking at her as she checked her vital signs. Whatever she was saying must have made her feel a little upset. She was constantly being told she was lucky, and things could have been so much worse for her.

When she saw me, she gave me a small smile, and any traces of that upset were long gone. Fritz's leg was in a cast, and a bandage covered the cut on her forehead. I could tell from how she was looking at me or her surroundings, she would have been in a lot of pain if it had not been from the pain medication that was given to her, and that same pain medication was making her feel a little sick. It was going to be a long road to recovery for her.

I had to really work to keep my hands from shaking too much, but at least she was on that medication. She would not have been able to see how I was losing my control.

"Hey, Dee," she said to me, wearing a small smile still. She was still pretty stubborn and like she was before she was before the accident.

I kept myself from walking for a moment. "You need to be more careful, Fritz." I was saying what had been repeated to her. "But, I am happy to see you are alright."

That was said without me even talking about it, but it was the complete truth. I was glad she was alright. She looked pretty horrible when I had found her, but she was nothing like that. Thank. . .that higher power.

I set the flowers down close to her bed, and I sat on the chair one of her parents had to have used when they were at her side before she had regained consciousness.

"What were you even doing?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I was going to meet up with some friends and drove too fast for the conditions."

"You really need to be more careful, Fritz," I told her. "You are not immortal."

She had grimaced a little at that. "I feel like I'm definitely not immortal or invincible."

"Are you okay?" I asked her, and I sounded like I was concerned for her.

"My leg hurts," she said, lightly reaching out to her leg. "Did you know my bone was sticking out. It feels like my bone was sticking out."

I really worked not to allow myself to show how that had affected me. She was really good at being able to read me, and I could still find that one vision horrifying even though she was clearly alright and fine sitting right in front of me. She tipped her head to the side when she looked at me, and she seemed to be pretty thoughtful over what she had seen.

"Maybe you should take some more of the pain medication," I said to her.

She shook her head. "It makes me feel sick."

"Better than that intense pain," I told her.

She rolled her eyes, but she was not as stubborn as before. "You might be right."

"End of the world," I remarked, becoming very close to smiling at her.

"I did hit my head," she went to cackle, but she grimaced. "Laughing hurts. . ."

I sat closer to her, and we were talking. She could barely be coherent as she spoke, probably from the pain medication, but she did not seem to mind as long as I was there.

Before I left, she grabbed my hand, making me look at her.

"Thank you for coming, Dee," she told me. "And. . .for the flowers."

"Yes. . .well. . ." I said, feeling a little uncomfortable about that.

"No. I mean, Dee," she said. "You made it feel a little bit better."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Please read and review!

I was in the clinic for a couple more days, probably so the doctor could be assured I wasn't going to have any really nasty complications from having a leg bone sticking out of the skin. It was going to be a pretty long several months before I could be almost normal. A part of me loves that sort of challenge.

That day before I would go home, I was sitting in my bed, and I didn't want to throw up from the pain meds anymore. Could still feel it, though. I reached out for the flowers Damian had given to me and smiled a little to myself. I'm sure someone talked him into it, but I thought it was pretty sweet he would have given me those flowers. He gave me very little flowers, probably feeling very uncomfortable about it and knew I wouldn't have liked to have anyone make such a big deal of it for me.

Damian still visited me on occasion during those days which was pretty good for me, made everything not feel quite as boring. Some of the nurses were all business, though they weren't that bad with checking up on me.

I was trying to finish my homework when he had come by that one day. He paused for a moment like he was unsure if he should continue with that course of action.

"Maybe you can help me," I told him. "I'm stuck. You won't feel like you're intruding, and you do love to remind me how much smarter you are than I am."

He seemed to be pretty amused with that, and he sat next to my bed. Damian reached out to grab my notebook to look through everything I was trying to work out.

"Here I thought you would be really good at this," he remarked. It was my chemistry homework. "It is math, and you have always been pretty good at math. Scary good."

"So. . ." I said to him, so close to cackling back at him. "Was that supposed to be a compliment? Because that had sounded like a compliment."

"No," he said to me, a little irritated over what I had said to him. He didn't have to take that kind of crap from me, but he did. Very, very patiently. I don't know how that was even possible, but it was. "That was not a compliment. It was merely a statement of fact. You need to understand that."

"You really need to work on how to speak to a girl," I remarked, snatching back my notebook. "Anyway. . .nothing makes sense."

"The medication could be the cause," Damian told me.

"Goody," I said. "Now you see why I don't like this stuff."

"You are in a safe place," Damian said. "And, it is supposed to help you."

"Yeah. . .yeah. . ." I said, not too convinced about it.

Damian did help me through my homework. I needed someone to be the clear headed mind in all of that. He was always the clear headed one, and that was what I had liked about him.

"Hey, Dee?" I asked him, and he looked up from my homework. Because he was helping with my homework, we were pretty close with him actually sitting on the bed with me.

He looked at me, and whatever was in his eyes made my stomach flip around. I had to quickly look away from him. That never had happened before. He never had given me anything like flowers before, and he was always there for me.

It was probably the pain meds messing with my head, again.

"What is it, Fritz?" He asked me.

I went to say something, but I couldn't remember what I could say something to him.

"Yeah. . .I forgot. . ." I said, which didn't seem to surprise him too much when I had said it. "Must be the pain meds."

"You cannot fall back on that when it is convenient for you."

* * *

Fritz was forced to use a wheelchair when she had left the clinic. Her forehead still had stitches in it, and her nose was still healing from being broken with her eyes both being black. Her parents were taking her back to their car to take her home. She was going to be using a wheelchair for awhile. Probably at least until she had the cast removed.

For some reason, I was there to help her into her parents' car. I am not really sure how that had happened, but I was there. She was stopped close to the car with the door wide open, and her dad was working to keep the door open.

I knelt next to the wheelchair, momentarily ignoring how disgusting the street seemed to be, and she carefully wrapped her arms around my neck. She was very light when I carefully lifted her out of the wheelchair. For a moment, I paused. I was not sure what to think about being that close to her as I started to hold her.

Fritz quirked up an eyebrow at me. "Problems?"

I quickly cleared my throat. I was not supposed to feel that kind of nerves, but I was the moment I had picked her up. That was different. And, that was a weakness.

"None," I told her. "I am being careful."

"I'm not made of glass," she replied, but she wore a small smile for me. "Maybe you should put me in the car before my dad pulls out his gun."

I carefully placed her in the back seat of the car, and she hissed out a breath of pain from the slight jostling of her injured leg. I was not as careful as I thought I was.

"Are you okay?" I asked her with some concern.

"I'm good," she said. "Thanks."

I looked at her, doing my best to ignore the feeling of those nerves that had suddenly appeared when I was holding her. That would have changed things between the two of us, and that meant things could have been more complicated.

"Maybe I should be asking you that question," Fritz had said to me.

"I am fine," I quickly said to her.

"Well, too bad you don't have the excuse of pain meds to fall back on for being weird."

"I am not being weird. You have that taken care of for the two of us."

"Could've fooled me, Dee."

I looked at her, and it was like nothing had ever happened. It was all exactly the same. No changes. No strange and inexplicable nerves that would come and go whenever I was close to her. It was nothing more to that, which was probably a good thing for the two of us.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Please read and review!

I had that cast for what seemed like an eternity to me. It made my leg itch like crazy, and I could've lost my sanity if I had to wait any longer before my cast could be removed. That cast meant I had to remain in the wheelchair, and for someone like me who loves to move all of the time, it was a death sentence. I hated being forced to sit still for very long periods of time.

That was why I became so involved with my computer work. It was the only thing keeping me sane and rom killing everyone around me, and it gave me something to do even though my homework was way too easy.

I had always been pretty good at the computer work, just the way I would do very little hacking work before my nasty accident, but there was never enough time for me. I could only focus on other things. My time after the accident made me focus and refine that kind of technique.

My earlier attempts at hacking made me wonder why I was never arrested. Those attempts could have been traced back to me, and it made sense why Damian was very concerned about the time I showed him what I could do. I took that time to become more invisible and to gather my information without anyone even knowing I was there. Somehow, that sort of determination went straight to my schoolwork and some of my music skills. There were things that cause me to change the way I dealt with the world.

It's really weird. For awhile, I made it with somewhat decent grades, but I never really did anything that would've been called spectacular or remarkable. After the accident, I changed. I thought it might have had to do with me hitting my head pretty hard in the accident. Things like that had happened before.

Damian did come by to see me after I came back from the hospital. At least I had someone to talk to whenever he was there. All of my other friends were way too busy to come see me.

"Hey, Dee," I said to him, making sure my laptop would only see my paper I had to write for one of my classes. I didn't want him to make too much of a deal over me hacking into things I wasn't supposed to. "I thought you had a life."

"I do," he said to me, unsure what I was going to say to him. He couldn't understand what I had meant when I said that.

"A night life, then," I said to him. "Do you go clubbing with some of your classmates?"

Damian stared at me like he was trying to decide if I was serious or not. He was not sure how to respond to what I was going to say to him after that one question. It would have created a conversation that would have not been something he would have been involved with.

"Do you know anything about me that would even indicate I would go. . .clubbing?" Damian was finally able to say to me. The tone of voice he had been using was like he was trying to understand why we were having that discussion. "Because if you do, I would like to know what."

"Chill out, Dee," I said to him. "You're always doing something at night, and you claim you're doing something important for your dad."

"I am," he said.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. You're only saying that because you know it would be a good enough excuse for me because you know I wouldn't go clubbing. Even with you."

Damian shook his head at that like he couldn't believe I was even entertaining that kind of thought. There was a small hint at feeling too surprised that I could know to ask the questions and be able to see through anything he would tell me. He didn't think I could be that observant.

"Do you really want to believe I would actually go out clubbing?" He asked me.

"It was the only explanation I could come up with that seemed to fit," I admitted.

He shook his head. "You do not need to worry about it or even worry about me."

"Who even said I was worried?" I replied. "I was curious. I wanted to know what you were going to need so many more excuses to hide them."

"I think this is where I would say that it would be none of your business," he had said to me.

I shrugged. "Yeah. . .well. . .whatever. . ."

It was pretty clear he would need to be more careful when he was around me. There was something he was hiding that he didn't want me to figure out.

* * *

Fritz was in that cast and wheelchair for most of the winter, so she was stuck with her immediate family for Christmas when they would normally go to see the family in the South during that extended break.

I would have believed she would have become insane when she would have been forced to sit still for long periods of time without pacing around to waste her energy. She never did go insane as time went on, so I had to guess she was forced to focus her mind. That period of time was probably the first time she had focused on making her mind sharper and more focused.

Fritz became more like someone who would think for a split second before she would act, though she would still be someone who would be pretty impulsive. That meant she was not going to get herself killed on purpose by deciding to do something stupid or reckless right away. She would hesitate a moment, actually considering what her actions could do to her and the people around her.

It was during that in-between faze between Thanksgiving and Christmas when Fritz was coming out of the Wayne Enterprises building. Her father had paused for a moment in the lobby of the building to speak to the people he had worked with over the years. She looked over her shoulder at him before she focused her attention back at me.

"Well," she said. "He seems to be pretty sociable today."

"It might take him awhile," I agreed with her, seeing one of the older women employees started to speak to her father. "Look who is speaking to him."

She looked over her shoulder a second time and gave a quiet cackle. "Oh, and that's the one he can't escape from."

She had to move out of the way of the door as we took that moment to speak to each other. The only signs of her injuries from that accident were a very faint scar on her forehead and a slightly crooked nose from being broken and then healed, and her leg was still in that cast.

There was that small part of me that could allow myself to feel very relieved over how she did not have apparent complications and would be alright. We were quietly speaking with each other, and she would tease me, being one of the few people in the world I would tolerate her doing something like that and her being one of the few people in the world brave enough to do something like that. As we spoke to one another, I realized those same feelings of relief I had to see she was alright were the same source of that small amount of nervousness I had when I was carrying her that one time.

She tipped her head to the side. "What's got you so thoughtful all of a sudden?"

That snapped me back into reality, and I shook my head. "I was thinking about something you do not need to be concerned about."

"Oh, right," she said, but she was not even mad about it. "This again."

"It happens," I replied. "But, I do not have to speak about it to you."

I did not want to speak about it to her because I did not want to voice it. that would mean I was admitting it, so I did the one thing I knew how to do. I bottled all of those emotions, so I never had to deal with them ever again. Time would pass to make me forget about them, and things could become as they were long before, making things pretty normal once more.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Please read and review!

It was a couple of days before Christmas, and Damian had arrived to my house with a stormy expression on his face. I felt a little concerned for him. It was very rare for him to ever be that furious over anything that could happen. I've seen him mad, but there were few times when that had happened.

There was no connection as to why he would be that furious. The only closest thing I could ever come up with was that massive break-out from Arkham Asylum, but I never thought he would ever be so invested with that to become very furious. I wanted to comfort him as best as I could, but since I had no idea what was happening, I didn't know what I could say to him to make him feel better.

"Hey, Dee," I said to him, giving him a concerned look. "You okay?"

He looked back at me, and the stony expression on his face started to go away. Never smiling, but I had yet to see him smile.

"Fine," he told me, but I could tell it was something almost automatic.

"Oh, really?" I asked him. "Because you look incredibly pissed off."

He studied me for that moment before he went to shake his head. "You are starting to be more observant than I thought you could be."

"I'm in this chair twenty-four seven. . .or something like that. . ." I said to him. "What else am I going to do?"

He appeared to be thoughtful for a moment, and I could tell he wasn't going to allow me to talk about myself like that.

"You see the world differently," he said to me. "You were always able to do that."

"Now you're changing the subject," I said to him, quirking up an eyebrow at him. "Now spill."

He paused for a moment, trying to decide what he was going to say to me. There he was, trying to hide something that was clearly big from me.

"It has been a pretty busy couple of days," he finally told me. "I have not been able to sleep well at all."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Too busy 'clubbing' with your Academy friends?"

Damian sighed and rolled his eyes at me, but he was slowly becoming not as furious as before. I considered that to be a good thing.

"If you could call it that," he replied. "You will not let it die, will you?"

"Of course, Dee," I said to him. "You know how stubborn I can be."

"You are not that wrong," he said to me. That was the closest thing I was probably going to get to the real truth that was going on in Damian's life.

"You can always talk to me about it. You know that, Dee," I said to him.

He made direct eye contact with me before he quickly looked away from me. "I know that, but maybe it is something I do not want to burden you with."

"I guess I have to accept it," I told him. "For now, at least, but you can't always make that kind of excuse."

"I guess I will deal with it when it happens," he said to me.

I shook my head, and I thought for a moment, almost forgetting something. I wheeled myself over to a small, red and green gift bag and held it out to Damian.

"That's yours," I told him.

He seemed to be momentarily surprised, but he did reach out to take the small bag. "Why?"

"It's Christmas," I told him like it had no other possible explanation. "Get into the spirit of things."

He looked between that bag and at me. "No. Why did you get me something?"

"Dee," I said, and for once, I was the one who was able to talk to him like he was being ridiculous. A first. "You're a friend, so yeah. . ."

"We have been friends for six years," he remarked. "Why now?"

"I have a job," I said to him. "So, right now makes sense."

He looked at me, and his eyes held a mysterious look to them before looking away from me a second time. "Thank you, Fritz."

I made a small hand gesture, and he knelt closer to me, not sure what I was going to do. that was when I gave him a light and quick kiss on his cheek. When he stood up to his full height, he was working to school his expression for me to not see anything that was passing through his mind at that exact moment.

* * *

She lightly and quickly kissed my cheek, and I did not know what to do with that. I could not stiffen up, or she would have figured if all out. When she looked away from me to wheel away as she talked at me, I would admit I had touched my cheek.

That was something she would have done without even thinking about it. For someone like her, it would have meant nothing.

"Hey, Dee?" she called out to me, forcing me to snap back into reality. "You okay over there? Or, did your brain break?"

"I did not break," I replied, and I quickly followed her. I was met with her phlegmy cackle.

With the massive break-out from Arkham Asylum we were not able to relax or have a moment to ever think, let alone be able to get a few night's sleep. The worst of Gotham was out there, and it took us those couple of nights to round them all up and take them back to Arkham. As soon as we were done, I did not go straight to sleep. Instead I went to Fritz's house to see her. Even though I was incredibly exhausted I did not regret it.

We were talking, and I was sitting on their couch. I could barely stay awake the longer we had talked. It was pretty difficult for me to open my eyes whenever I had blinked. That was probably how I was able to fall asleep on the couch, and when she realized I had fallen into a deep sleep, she must have wheeled herself to grab a pillow and a blanket for me.

She must have quietly left me to sleep because she thought I had needed it, and I guess I did need it. I had never slept through the night that deeply, especially never at a place that was not my families'. Somehow, I trusted her enough to sleep soundly through the night at her place. That never had happened.

I woke up to find myself on her couch and wrapped up in one of her blankets. Fritz had wheeled into the room.

"Hey, Dee," she said quietly. "How's it going, sleepy head?"

"Really?" I asked her. "Sleepy head?"

"Yep," she said to me and wore a small smile. "So. . .feeling better?"

I looked back at her, and I knew it made me feel better again. It was starting to become pretty clear to that I would always be able to trust her. That was a big step for someone like me.

"Much better," I said to her.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Please read and review!

Damian was back at the house the morning of Christmas Eve, and I gave him a small smile when I saw him. He quirked up an eyebrow at me as I was walking on crutches.

"Working on being able to walk on your leg?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I told him. "The doctor called my mom to say it was alright."

"Good," he told me, and he actually went to hang his own coat. "You will be able to climb your favorite tree soon. enough."

"Sounds about right," I said to him. "I would love to hang upside down in my favorite tree again."

"Do you always have to hang upside down in you tree?" He asked me, but he already knew the answer to that. We've known each other for a long enough time for him to sort of expect that from me.

"What brings you all the way over here?" I asked. "Especially today. I thought you'd love to have the chance to torture Tim and tease everyone else."

"I still have all day," he replied to me. It was one of the few times I ever saw him get so close to smiling at me. Close but it never fully happened as yet. He pulled out a small wrapped box and placed it into my hands. "That is yours."

I gave him a very small smile as I started to rip the red foil wrapping paper. Inside was a plain box was a small key chain that was far too flashy and outrageous-looking. It's something I would've loved, and I did.

"Thanks, Dee," I said to him. "I love this."

When I looked up at him, i could see the look on his face of someone relieved at my reaction, and I gave him a light and quick kiss on the cheek.

"Or, you could be saying that to make me feel better," he remarked.

"I didn't just say that," I said to him. "I totally mean it."

"I know you do."

He was there for a few hours, and I enjoyed those few hours as I mostly talked at him which he listened to everything I said and was able to respond to me with things that could be funny even when he had deadpanned it all.

I was cackling my phlegmy laugh with everything he was saying which seemed to surprise him a little, but he didn't really mind. I could tell he loved to be able to make me laugh like that, though he would never think I would ever know that or be able to figure that out about him.

* * *

It was one of the few times when i would see my mother. She understood there was a tradition where family members would see each other during that holiday. She would use that as the perfect excuse to have me see her.

The first few years, I looked forward to seeing Mother. She was the only sane part of my insane life when I had started to live with Father. That year had changed. For some reason, things seemed to be a little different than all of the ones before.

Mother narrowed her eyes at me, studying me for a moment. "I need to know who associates with you, Damian."

"Why?" I asked her. she had never cared about that sort of thing before. "Why do you want to know?"

"That sort of group you would associate yourself with could make you strong or weak," she told me. "You are becoming weak."

I looked back at Mother and shook my head. She would have no idea what I would be going through in my life. It was pretty clear to me my childhood with my mother was never something I would wish on anyone.

"How would I become weak?" I asked her. I did not see what she was telling me about.

"You are not associating with the correct people," she explained. "You never had once you had started to live with your father, and I had to tell him time and again to find more suitable acquaintances. At first, I did not find fault with it. You would need to understand the people you would lead."

"At first?" I asked.

"You have changed," Mother said to me. "Not for the better."

"Maybe," I said to her. "I am more like Father than you realize."

"Not a good thing," Mother said to me. "That was never a part of the plan."

I closed my eyes for a moment, actually feeling upset. There were children who would be upset over their parents apparent disappointment in them, and I could understand those feelings of being so upset. Mother and Grandfather had never truly cared for me, only the possibility I could create for them and the greatness I could reach. Father cared for me, and Fritz had cared for me with no expectations.

"The plan," was all I could really say to that. "I would have thought you loved Father. I remember you always said you did."

"Idealism will never get you anywhere," she told me, never speaking about anything else about her complicated relationship with Father.

The rest of that night started to pass on in angry silence. Neither one of us wanted to back away from what we had felt was right. I could have snapped at her, but she was my mother. Blood was more important than that. Still, I could not get out of there fast enough. Mother was not the same comforting woman I had thought her to be.

I guess I did change, but it was only Mother who would have been able to notice that small change for the better.

* * *

Damian came over to the house, and I could tell by the look he was trying not to wear, I could tell he was very upset about something that must have happened to him over Christmas. Because I was so lucky with the family that I had, I felt for him. I don't know why I assumed family drama, but since it was Christmas, it was the only thing that actually made sense to me at the time.

I went to help him with his coat, and he brushed me aside and shook his head. He still seemed to be pretty preoccupied with whatever had upset him so much.

"Dee," I said, and he went to look at me. He wore a mysterious expression on his face. "You okay?"

He went to say something to me, but he had to stop himself from saying anything. "Fine."

"You do realize you can talk to me about anything," I told him. "I thought we got through all of that."

"We did. . ." He told me. "but, this is not something I should burden you with."

"Stop being so stoic," I replied. "I consider you a friend, whether you like it or not, so you'll never burden me with anything."

He looked at me for a moment, and it was like he was trying to argue with himself over whether he should tell me or not. Even though he knew I would always be there for him.

"One of the few times I would see my mother in the year is over Christmas," he explained to me. I tipped my head to the side. It must have really bothered him. He rarely spoke about his mother, but I had always guessed, he looked forward to those times he would see his mother. "Apparently I disappoint her."

There's more to what he was telling me, but I still reached out to him. I lightly hugged him, and he returned it as I lightly spoken to him, doing my best to comfort and reassure him. when I pulled away to look up at him, I could tell he seemed to look much better after I quietly spoke to him.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Please read and review!

We walked into the gym before the school day would've even started. The whole high school was there, and we were loud as we were all talking to each other, catching up from the break. The principal was talking to a couple members of the school board, and I could tell those board members weren't happy with him at all. There's something between them.

The principal quieted all of us down the moment he stepped behind his podium. It was the silence of a group of people trying to understand what was happening. I wasn't the only one who had noticed that short little interaction between the board and the principal, or maybe it all had to do with the fact there were some rumors going around the community about what could have been going on.

"I'm sure you heard the rumors," the principal was saying to all of us, and everyone started to listen very close to whatever he was going to say to us. "The board had to look through the budget for this school district as well as the projected budgets in the years to come. Because our enrollment is down, the state has not been giving us enough money as before. We've looked through them, and we realize this year will be the last year the doors to this school will be allowed to remain open.

He must have said the right thing because those board members weren't too mad at him. Of course, he had to say something else.

"You will be going to Gotham High," he said.

The board members looked outraged as they stood on their feet, and all of the high schoolers were yelling with our own outrage. That school was in the area of a city where rival gangs had territory that touched each other on the grounds of that school. That school was a war zone, and the principal unilaterally decided we'd be going there. The board members weren't happy with him. He made a very under-the-table deal to have us go to what would probably be one of the most dangerous places in the city, and he didn't even seem to really care about that all.

That man actually had the guts to look so confused and offended by everyone's reaction at his announcement.

"That school will be good for you," he defended himself. "For all of us."

* * *

This was probably one of the few times I ever saw Fritz so upset. She was fuming as she sat down, and that was usually pretty rare for her as well. Normally if she was mad, she would yell at that exact moment, never holding it in to simmer. She must have been pretty upset with something.

"Why do you look like you were plotting someone's murder?" I asked her.

"I am," was all she was going to say at first. I gave her a look, making her quickly look away from me. "Our school's pretty much broke, and next year will be the last year."

"Little late to tell you that," I remarked. "I thought decisions about your future like that could take awhile."

She angrily snorted at me. "It would, I guess. The principal already made his decision without taking any kind of input from the district or even the school board."

"I take it he is not supposed to do that," I remarked. "Where would you be going?"

"He decided on Gotham High," she answered, and by the way she said that, it was pretty clear she was not happy about that. Not even close. I would not blame her over that.

"Decided?" I asked. "There is more to it than that, I take it."

"Much more," she said. "Or. . .at least that's what everyone's saying. . ."

"Since when do you conform with what everyone is doing?" I asked her.

"Since it all fits together," she remarked. "Loss of money from his embezzling scheme. Then he unilaterally decided on that one school. It all fits." She snorted again. "You'd think he'd be more careful."

"What are you going to do?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I talked to my parents about it, but. . .it'll take a little over year, so. . ."

I shook my head. "Does not mean why you should be so upset right now."

"They way he did it," she said. "That's why makes me so mad right now."

I reached out to her and went to squeeze her hand. "Whatever you do. . .I know you would not do something you would regret. I know you would find the answer and the truth to what you were looking for."

She gave me a small smile. "Thanks for that, Dee. Somehow that had made me feel so much better."

Her eyes were flashing with that mischievous attitude I should have regretted allowing her to find again in that moment. She was going to be up to something. Very obvious. I hoped she was not going to do something reckless or impulsive.

"I will keep going then," he had said to me. "There is bad people in the world. It is nothing that should make you believe the world itself is horrible."

She could only look at me for a moment. Her eyes were wide as she was starting to process through what I was saying to her. It was not something I would have normally have said to her.

I was starting to become pretty uncomfortable over that kind of reaction. "I tried."

She gave me a light eye roll. "You tried? I never thought something like that could even be in your vocabulary."

"It is," I said. "I only use it very little."

"You should probably stop using it," she replied, and gave me her phlegmy cackle. "Actually. . .forget you even know that word."

"You are killing me, Fritz."

She shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. It's why you like me."

I almost smiled at that. She always knew how to respond to me, never taking whatever I would say to her as always a way to start any kind of an argument. She was far too easygoing and lighthearted to get mad me over anything I would ever say to her.

"More like dealing with you," I told her. "Nothing you can do can make it any worse."

"You say that now," she said. "But, what about later?"

I shook my head and lightly held her hand before pulling away from her. She would always speak to me like that, but it was never a problem for me. It was always pretty entertaining for me whenever we had our little arguments. I could actually say I looked forward to those short arguments.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Please read and review!

The principal became the most hated guy in the school, and he couldn't understand why we could barely tolerate him. I'm not sure why he would be that oblivious to the world around him. It could get him killed off if he wasn't careful around the people he dealt with. He should be a little more careful.

I kept my head down for the most part, but I wasn't the only person who had wanted him out of there. The school was full of people who hated that man. The few people I knew and were very close to me automatically thought I was up to something pretty big. I was never known to be that accepting and quit about anything that would have made me angry, and yet there I was, being all quiet and accepting and following the rules.

I came home the day after the dreaded announcement, and I went to my computer. If he had any shady connections or done anything pretty illegal, I would find it. I was always pretty good at that sort of thing.

I combed through his whole life, trying to know everything about him. If he was that clueless as the why we were so mad at him, then this all was going to be very easy for me, and it was. There was all of the information I would've needed to ruin his whole life. He was going to learn he needed to be more careful keeping his dark secrets hidden.

The embezzlement scheme was what I had expected. Either the rumor mongers were right for once, or he really, really sucked at keeping secrets. I wasn't too surprised about why he chose Gotham High without consulting anyone else. That man. . .the person who valued in protecting the next generation (supposed to value). . .had made a deal with a certain man about sending the students to Gotham High. He not only knew it was on the border of territory that belonged to very bad people, he didn't even care.

I believe his words were:

"They could become very useful for you. No one cares about them. The come from desperate families. They will do anything for you."

I stood up and grabbed my pillow, and I started to punch it as I swore in French. Why would someone do something like that? He didn't even care. When I finally calmed down, I started to figure out how to hand that information over to the right people who would have to do something about it. Batman. He was the only person who would do anything about it.

I could always find a way.

* * *

Grayson and I were at Gordon's place, and she was in front of the computer, looking pretty nervous, barely even looking away from the several monitors from her Oracle systems. She had to become Oracle in the aftermath of being shot by the Joker, and she had to be in a wheelchair once she became paralyzed from the waist down. At that point of time, she was able to walk again by being supported by canes for a short period of time. She became the Oracle as a way to help them.

"Hey, Babs," Grayson said to her. "What's wrong?"

"Someone hacked into my systems."

That caught our attention. It could never be good if anyone was able to get into any of our systems. Whoever that person was, he would have been able to learn some things about us that could ruin everything. We have secrets that could ruin us. Then, there was the fact there was next to no one who would have been able to get into Gordon's Oracles systems.

"What?" Grayson asked her as he looked at the difficult monitors. He could see what she had meant, and I could tell he was trying to decide if he should be concerned or not. "He didn't even look through anything. . .I don't think. . ."

"Just sent me something," Gordon explained. "Thick file."

"Don't open it," Greyson told her, and Gordon gave him a very steady look, making him grimace a little. "But, you already know that."

"I'm trying to see if it's dangerous or not," Gordon said. "Before I do anything, but oddly enough, I don't think it's dangerous."

Grayson shook his head like he was not convinced by that. It was too suspicious to be anything but.

"Do you know who sent it?" I asked her.

"That's why this is so frustrated," Gordon told me. "It's like it came from my own system. I can't trace it at all. I have no idea who's behind all of this. This guy's good."

We were all quiet, trying to understand what was going on. There was someone out there who could get into their systems without being traced or even noticed. That person could crash their system at the moment they would need it, or that person could get the sensitive information before we could even realize it and spread it all over the world.

That hacker must have grown impatient and decided to open the file for Gordon. I should have guessed who that hacker could have been, but I would quietly admit only took to seeing all of the information about Fritz's principal to make me realize she not only ignored me about hacking but listened to me about doing something about it. It was pretty clear she had gotten even better at it since that day I had warned her.

"That can't be good," Grayson remarked. "What made him think he could get away with that?"

I remembered what Fritz would always say about him, and it did seem to fit with his actions. "He is arrogant. He believes no one would ever be quite as intelligent as he thinks himself to be to figure it out."

I could see why Fritz had felt like she had needed to get involved. The people who would be affected would be her friends and classmates, people she had known for a very long time. She felt like she had to do something to help them, and she would do anything to make sure they would get some help.

That was reason enough to make it difficult not to admire her.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Please read and review!

I walked into the house, and I could see my mom waiting for me in the kitchen. She seemed to be pretty please and excited over something. The mail Dad must have grabbed that morning was sorted in front of her, and she was holding the open letter.

"Mom?" I called out to her, and she looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she told me, and she handed me the letter. "You need to see this."

It was a letter from the Wayne Foundation that said I got a full ride scholarship to Gotham Academy based on my grades. That was the school where Gotham's elite would go to get into the best colleges in the country. It was supposed to be a very good school and very, very safe and protected to make those elite families feel better.

"I got in?" I asked her because it didn't really make sense to me at the time.

"Of course you did," Mom said to me as she got to her feet and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Why wouldn't they have you?" You're smart. . .probably smarter than all of them. Of course you'd be able to go there. . ."

"This is. . ." I said to her. "So. . .surreal. . ."

"Why would it be?" She asked me.

I wore a small smile, slowly starting to accept what was happening. That had to prove I was pretty smart, and even those powerful people had to believe I was pretty smart with a lot of potential and very great future ahead of me.

"I could go there next year," I said.

"Two years could really help get you into really good schools," Mom said to me.

"That sounds pretty good," I said. "That'll be my mantra for the next two years."

Mom pressed her lips together, but even she could see that because I was a scholarship case, I'd be considered the charity case. That's how they all see us and anyone who would have scholarships. They were trying to distance themselves from the lower classes. It's why a lot of people have problems with trying to keep that gap between the rich and poor, but she could tell from experience it was going to be difficult.

The next day when I came to the school, the principal pulled me aside as I walked to my locker, and he took me into his office. He wore a stormy expression on his face, so I could tell he wasn't happy about something.

"What did you want talk about?" I asked him. I worked to act polite or sweet to him to make it seem like I wasn't the one who knew so much about him and his very dark secrets.

"I received word you were accepted into Gotham Academy for next year," he told me. Most principals would've been happy about one of their students were in one of the best schools in the country, but he seemed to be pretty mad about it.

"Yeah. I did get in," I said to him, voice full of that excitement. "I can't wait."

That stormy expression became even more furious. "You shouldn't accept it."

"Why?" I asked him. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

He paused for a moment. "Gotham High -"

I stood to my feet. "My parents would be more comfortable with me going to Gotham Academy. This is out of my hands. . ."

"You have no idea," he said to me. "You're not allowed to make that kind of decision."

"And," I said. "You're not allowed to stop me."

He was quickly on his feet and blocking my way out of his office. My blood ran cold. I could tell he was pretty threatening. He wanted me to do something for him, and he had wanted to scare me into it.

"I can make you disappear forever," he said to me. He was not the obvious-type. He was incredibly dangerous. "And, no one would know where to even find you."

"Is that a threat, sir?" I asked him, trying to feel calm.

"I'm only trying to remind you," he said to me. "You should be more careful."

He allowed me to leave his office, and when I went back to my locker, feeling that intense need of throwing up. He needed to be dealt with.

* * *

Father looked through all of the information that had been given to us by someone who was far better than Gordon. He was trying to see if the information was accurate or not and not something gathered together by someone who was not happy about something he would do.

"Do you know who sent this?" Father asked us.

"No," Grayson said. "Babs said this person is much better than anything she came up with. As far as we can tell it came from within her system."

"Is it all legitimate?" I asked Father.

"It looks like it," Father said. He gestured to the picture of Fritz's principal. "That man is very dangerous."

That was enough for us to know that Father was going to do something about that principal and his horrible scheme. He was going to hand over the information to the sheriff who lived in Fritz's town through Commissioner Gordon. That man would be stopped.

I would admit I felt relieved about that, but I kept it to myself, not wanting anyone to see or know about it. What that principal was planning for Fritz and everyone she had went to school with was horrible, and I did not want that to happen to her of all people. She was not that type of person who could handle that. They were horrible people in that part of Gotham City. I thought it was a good idea that we were taking the tip and doing something about it.

"You have no idea on who this person is," Father said to me, studying me very carefully.

"I suspect something," I admitted. He did not need my confirmation. He already knew. "But, I do not have the proof."

"You should probably tell Baby to be more careful," Father said to me. "She could get into trouble, or people would try to force her to work for them."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Please read and review!

We walked into the school building, and there were cops and federal agents all over the place. Apparently we weren't going to have school that day, and it was all too sudden and unexpected which was why we weren't told about it until we had arrived on the school grounds that morning.

I found one of my friends who also walked out of the building. "What's going on?"

"The principal's going to be arrested for embezzlement," she told me. "And, human trafficking." She leaned in closer to me. "Apparently the sheriff got a call from Gotham's commissioner to meet up, and that meant he was able to meet Batman."

He actually believed and trusted me when I sent him all of that information. I felt humbled over that kind of trust from someone who didn't even know me that well. Humbling.

"Batman?" I asked her. "I bet the sheriff was surprised about that."

"Almost had a heart attack," she told me.

We paused for a moment, watching everything starting to happen around us. The principal was surrounded by two obviously heavily armed federal agents, and was pretty nervous-looking the longer the search was happening. He knew he was in so much trouble, and things were only going to get worse for him. It was clearly written on his face.

"Human trafficking?" I asked her.

"It's why we're going to Gotham High," she explained to me.

"You're going to Gotham High," I said. "I was accepted into Gotham Academy. He wasn't happy about that. Actually threatened me about it."

"Money for each of us to go there," she said. "Of course he didn't want you to go there if even it's a good school."

"Gotham bleeding here," I remarked and shuddered a little. That shouldn't have happened. This was the place that was supposed to be so wholesome and light, and it was supposed to be the place where we had escaped the nastiness that was in Gotham.

"It's only a matter of time."

We watched the principal be led away in handcuffs, and that was when everyone in the parking lot started to clap and cheer. Everyone hated him, and we really loved to see him go away like that. A very bad guy was long gone.

* * *

I walked into Fritz's house, and she looked up from her homework. She was sitting on the floor with the different notebooks and textbooks all around her.

She looked up from her homework and gave me a small smile. "Hey, Dee. We didn't have school today, and the teachers still thought we should have a lot of homework."

"So I heard," I said to her. "News travels fast in Gotham."

"There's no such thing as secrets, only useful information," she remarked.

It was only a comment that someone like her could get away with saying. There was no ulterior motive behind it, just a comment of the things she had noticed around her. I studied her for a moment, and there was nothing that would have indicated she knew far too much about us. Fritz did not look at us or treat us any differently.

Who could be able to get that information so easily and throw that chance away?

It looked like Fritz was the type of person who would never look through that information while breaking into Gordon's system. She did not need that information and did not really care about that.

"What are you thinking about?" Fritz had asked me, setting the notebook on the floor.

"I know you can hack," I said, grimacing when I was using her word choice in a normal conversation. Bad habits. "And, you revealed the same rumors that had been circulating around your community which happen to be true."

She tipped her head to the side. "I'm not admitting this, but what would make you believe something like that."

"Fritz," I said to her very carefully. "I know you. You are not the type of person who would allow of. . .that to happen." I did not need to think too hard to know what could happen to her in that human trafficking moment. "Especially not when you have the means to put an end to it."

She went to say something, but she stopped herself and shook her head. "You could be right on that one."

"Could?" I asked her. "Could. That sounds. . .you will get yourself seriously hurt if you continue with this."

She was looking back at me, and I could tell she was thinking pretty hard about something. I wondered for a moment if I had shown my hand. She started to think about why I would know something like that, but she shook her head. Probably thinking it was too ridiculous to even believe.

"I'll be fine," she said, so she decided she was going to admit to it.

"You will be fine," I said, sounding a little unconvinced about what she was saying. "You will get yourself killed."

"You don't need to worry about me, Dee," she said. "I had to learn how to be more careful."

I had to work to keep myself from showing any kind of reaction to what she had just said to me. It was one of those images I would work to really hard to forget, and she had to be the one to constantly remind me of it.

"As long as you consider yourself a friend of mine," I said to her. "I will always worry about you."

She gave me a small smile, but her eyes flashed playfully. "You hang around Dick too much."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.

"You never did know about how to say the right things to a person," she said. "And, now you do. You hang around Dick too much."

"One would have to say I got it from you," I said to her. "That is something you would say."

"Okay. . ." She said to me. "Now that's something Dick would say."

I looked at her for a moment. There is no reason why she would completely change the subject if she was innocent. I saw through what she was doing, but I was not going to call her out on it. I was going to keep an eye on her, keep her safe because it looked like she was not going to do it on her own.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Please read and review! Sorry for the long break. I have been keeping up with this. I wrote a lot of chapters.

* * *

After the problems with the principal were not as dire, I was going to spend the day over at Gotham Academy to learn about that school, its expectations, or whatever to better make my decision about going there. It's no question that I would go there, but I wasn't going to waste the opportunity of not having to go to school and be bored out of my mind. The new, temporary principal wasn't mad about that, and he was the one who had put all of that together.

I had my long, blonde hair pulled into two braids, and I wore flannel shirt with blue jeans and dusty cowboy boots. I was going to have some fun with it that day.

My dad saw through what I was thinking about doing that day, and he shook his head when he saw me that morning.

"Please don't do anything stupid," he said to me.

"I won't," I reassured him.

He narrowed his eyes momentarily at me. "I know you."

I stuck my tongue out at him. He didn't need to worry too much about me or what I was going to do. I was only going to annoy some of the rich kids. Basically, I was going to make them realize that people like me could be smart and successful. It was going to be mildly entertaining for me.

My dad knew there was nothing he could say or do that would have made me change my clothes, so all he could do was hope I wasn't going to do something too stupid that could've ruined my chances on ever going to that school. He really should have more faith in me.

I walked into the closed grounds of that school, and everyone stopped talking in their small groups when they saw me, staring at me as I walked through the grounds. They definitely didn't want me to be there. I really had to work to keep myself from cackling because that day was going to be pretty great, and I was going to enjoy every moment of it.

The headmaster-guy met me at the door and had me shake hands with him, and I did my usual strong and firm handshake which seemed to please him. Did none of those rich kids know how to do a proper handshake? At least he didn't react to me wearing that country-get-up. Other kids in the building stopped walking to glare at me, trying to let me know that my kind wasn't allowed to be there. When the headmaster-guy wasn't looking at me, I smirked back at them. There was nothing they could do that would make me want to leave.

"There were a couple people I would normally have show the new students around on a day like today," he explained to her. "And help you when you first start out here, but they were busy."

Meaning: They didn't want to help me at all. No matter what.

He was acting like it surprised him, but he shouldn't have been surprised. He dealt with them and was a part of that kind of environment on a daily basis.

"Someone actually volunteered," he said gesturing to Damian, and by the way he glowered at him, I could tell he did not like being called out on it. Especially in the middle of that lobby.

The headmaster-guy left the two of us alone to go do more important things to do than make sure we weren't going to try to kill each other.

"You would dress like that," Damian said to me.

"Like what?" I asked him, getting ready to snap back at him.

"Like you were trying to irritate some of them here." He made sure to let me know he wouldn't count himself as one of that number.

"Well, yeah," I said. "You should expect that."

He shook his head. "You had better not make me late, Fritz."

"I won't," I said to him. "You gotta give me more credit than that."

I walked with him to his first class, a math class. He would sit in the back of the class like he was trying to keep a close eye on everything and everyone in that room. Everyone started to walk into the classroom, staring at me when they realized I was there. I was tempted to make faces at them, but Damian went to rest a hand on my arm and shook his head. I rolled my eyes at him, but I listened to him. I probably shouldn't make the situation worse.

The class went on as the teacher lectured, and he started to ask the class to solve through those difficult questions. None of the students were able to answer them correctly, or they were taking far too long to work out those problems on scratch paper. Damin was looking at me, quirking up an eyebrow at me. He was expecting me to do something.

I raised my hand to answer those questions, and that surprised everyone in the classroom. I could answer those questions correctly, and I was able to figure them out in my head. The teacher kept himself from showing his surprise far too much, but he was a little pleased about that.

Damian looked almost amused when that had happened. He knew that was going to happen at some point of that day which was probably why he wanted me to answer those questions.

"What?" I mouthed back at Damian.

He shook his head in response. "Nothing."

That must have surprised everyone that me and Damian were getting along that well together. I don't think they were going to allow themselves to believe it. Don't blame them. It only became worse for them when we walked out of the classroom together.

I was quietly talking at Damian, slightly teasing him for a moment. It all became pretty quiet as everyone started to listen to me with complete surprise. No one had the guts to speak to him like that, and yet, there I was openly and outright teasing him. It was Damian's reaction to what I was saying to him that made him even more surprised. He didn't act all imperious and respond icily at me, taking it all in stride, and he almost smiled at me several times as he started to respond to what I had said to him.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Fritz normally would never wear the flannel shirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots because it was far too understated for someone like her, and she never liked playing up to stereotypes. I knew she was up to something when she was at Gotham Academy dressed as a stereotypes. It was strange her parents allowed her out of the house dressed like that. They should have known what she was planning. She could fool anyone into thinking she was sweet and innocent, and they knew enough about her to see through that act. They should have been able to do that. . .

No one wanted to have her follow them around for a day. Not only did she have a scholarship, a charity case, but she came from a community of lower class individuals. They did not need to say anything about it out loud, but it was pretty clear they did not think she deserved that kind of life.

I used to follow that kind of belief before I met her and she came under my skin. There was something about being around Fritz that had made me want to see the world in a better light and make myself do anything much better.

She made eye contact with me when she saw me, and I could see her eyes starting to flash playfully and mischievously. Fritz was enjoying herself far too much for her to not have something in the works to irritate anyone and everyone in the school.

The headmaster left the two of us, probably feeling a little pleased over what he had just set up. She would have made Gotham Academy look very good and important. I studied Fritz for a moment, trying to get her to say something about what she was going to do. She returned the look, trying to appear innocent. I could see through that look.

"You would dress like that," I remarked to her.

Her eyes flashed at me, and she was ready to snap at me. She loved to start little arguments with me, and there were times when I started them to allow her some enjoyment.

"Like what?" She asked me. She was getting ready to start that argument, and she looked like she was ready to win.

"Like you were trying to irritate them here," I said to her, and I made sure she knew I was not in that number. I was used to her and what she would do, so I had no problems with her.

"Well, yeah. You should expect that," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I could only shake my head at her. There were times when she would do something that would make it difficult for me to speak to her.

"You had better not make me late, Fritz."

"I won't," she responded, making herself sound very innocent. It looked like I was going to keep a close eye on her. "You gotta give me more credit than that."

She walked with me to math class, and when I sat in my desk in the back of the room, she took the empty desk next to mine. No one sat in that desk before that moment, so it took me several moments to get used to that. Fritz was never a threat to me, but the assassin training from my childhood made it difficult for me to realize she was not a threat.

My classmates walked into the room, and they would pause to stare at Fritz. She hated that. I could tell by the way she stiffened in her seat she was going to do something to strike back at them, so I reached out to rest a hand on her arm. It was supposed to be a calming touch to hold her back for a moment. She looked at me, wondering what that was about, and I shook my head at her. That was enough to keep her from doing anything out of anger, and she listened to me, pressing her lips together and relaxing in her seat.

The lecture went on and on, and I looked back at Fritz several times. She did not have the glazed look to her eyes as she listened and followed the lecture. Fritz could process complex information like it was nothing to her. She surprised the whole class when she was able to answer the questions. It was clear she had a great mind. There was a reason why she was given a scholarship.

When we walked out of the classroom, Fritz started to talk at me, never once allowing me to respond to her right away. She would always use her ridiculous and varying tone of voices, and she would have sounded ridiculous. I was used to that, so I knew how respond to her or when. People around us were not sure what to expect or think about.

No one spoke to me like that. My name came with power and prestige, and I acted like I was much better than the people around me. I would never have allowed people to talk to me the way she did, but that was before Fritz. Only Fritz could speak to me like that.

She gave me a small smile as she began to notice how stunned they were around use. Her eyes flashed playfully. She was pretty amused with what was happening.

"Hey, Dee," she said to me as she started to cackle. "I could totally like it here."

Her cackling and phlegmy laughter was jarring for the other students, and they were staring at her even more. I could tell they would consider her to be irreverent and obnoxious. They could not consider her to be one of them. Fritz did not even care what they thought about her. she was not going to ever change herself for them.

I never minded being associated with her. She never made life dull. It would always be interesting with her.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I could notice that there were times when people completely avoided Damian unless they really had to deal with him. That may have been something he wanted to happen. He always preferred being solitary and considered human contact and association useless and a waste of time. At the time, I wasn't too sure why that was the case. I knew for the first ten years of his life with his mother were hard for him, so whatever happened in his childhood to make him like that happened with his mother. He never wanted to talk about it, and I respected that. Even then, I wanted to talk to him about it and help him through it.

People watched how we interacted with each other, and though Damian's side was understated and almost hidden, they could see that friendship we had. It was hard for them to even believe that was possible, but they could see it happening. He would not allow any of their comments or remarks made about us to make him change how he would act. Their opinions were not something he ever cared about.

We were in the spacious cafeteria, and the voices were echoing all around us. It was pretty obvious Damian would always sit on his own on a normal day. I shouldn't have been surprised.

"You know, Dee," I said to him when I sat next to him. He looked into my eyes, and that steady gaze made my stomach flip around. It threatened my face to heat up while he looked at me. "They're not that bad."

If I hadn't been looking at him, I would've missed it. There was a look of concern for me. That wasn't something I would've normally said.

"What?" I asked him.

"You would be the last person to say something like that," he said to me. There was nothing left of that short and tender moment.

I snorted at him. "I'm full of surprises."

"Right," he remarked as he started to pick at his food.

"People might be concerned about you being the silent loner-type," I said to him.

He shook his head. "You need not be concerned with me killing my classmates."

"I'm not concerned," I said, and he did the one thing he was always pretty good and subtly changing the subject whenever things came into a territory where he had to talk about his feelings.

That was one of the few things he hated to do: talk about his feelings. He actively avoided talking about his feelings.

Damian studied me for a moment. His faces was expressionless. That was usually the sign we were about to tread on dangerous territory.

"Maybe I should be concerned about you," he said. "You would do something like that."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Do you really think that?"

He went to say something, but he stopped himself, shaking his head. Damian should have guessed I would've never done something like that. He knew me better than that.

We were both picking at our food, for once not able to pick at each other. I wasn't happy at him for not wanting to talk about what was bothering him, and he was irritated at me for not leading something well enough alone, should've known better than to speak about what was bothering him.

I was wondering if he was keeping me at arm's length. He was never the type of person who would've wanted to be close to anyone else.

* * *

Fritz kept quiet and to herself for the rest of the day, barely even responding to whatever I would say to her. She was not happy about something that she believed I had said or done. I had learned over the years that whenever that would happen. She could be pretty passive aggressive, and it would take her a long while to get over herself. She would have preferred for me to apologize and grovel to her to help her stop being so mad at me. My pride would have never allowed something like that to happen.

It was the end of the day, and we were in the lobby that was relatively empty. She had her arms crossed, and she was barely acknowledging me and pointedly looking away from me.

"Fritz," I said, and she looked up at me, wearing a blank expression on her face. "What is bothering you?"

Her eyes flashed, showing that little anger she was starting to feel. "So, it's alright to only talk about my feelings, but when I wanted to talk about yours. . ."

I gave her a long suffering sigh. "That does not matter."

"Doesn't matter?" She asked.

I should have known I was in dangerous territory when he voice became deathly quiet. That was never a good thing. It showed she was angrier than she was willing to show at the moment.

"Dee," she said, and for once, her voice was softer and kinder than it had been for a few hours. "You should know that it matters to me."

It was the truth. The way she said it and the way she looked at me made it difficult to believe otherwise. She was always like that.

I looked away from her because I was not ready to deal with any of that right at the moment, even if it was Fritz.

"I know that," I said to her, but I kept my voice emotionless. She narrowed her eyes at me, getting back to that icy expression.

She stormed off to her mother's waiting car, never once looking back at me.

That hurt just a little bit.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

My mom could tell I was a little upset when I climbed into her car. She didn't drive away just yet, and she looked at me closely.

"How was your day?" She asked me. She had just finished a shift, and she looked incredibly exhausted, but she was still able to make sure I was alright and take the time to speak to me.

"It was okay," I told her. "But, I'm mad at Damian."

Mom's eyes flashed for a moment as she tipped her head to the side. She studied me for a moment, thinking about something else for a moment.

"What happened?" She asked me.

I told her what had happened and my feelings of it. She was always the person who could know the answer to every problem I was dealing with. There were times when I was more like her than I was like my dad. Her advice was perfect for me.

That day she didn't say anything at first after I told her what had happened. She wore a slight knowing look on her face. At the time, I didn't understand what that look could've meant. She could understand everything in my life long before I could ever understand.

"Mom?" I asked her.

She quickly shook her head like she was trying to snap herself back into reality. "you should give him time."

"That's what I had been doing this whole time," I said to her. "It's not working."

"It is," Mom told me, and she started to drive out of the parking lot. "Trust me. He's opened up to you a lot over the years. Give him time."

I slouched some in my car seat. Mom was right, and even in my pride, I could tell she was right. It was pretty difficult for me to even admit to myself let alone agree with her out loud.

Damian looked like he wanted to tell me everything that was going through his mind at the moment and what had been bothering him over the years. It was the closest he had ever gotten to telling me that, but as always he pulled himself back from human emotions or human interactions.

What happened in his early childhood that made him do something like that? What did his mother do to him to make him ignore human contact?

It was the beginnings of the hating that woman, even though I didn't know her that well. She was probably one of the few people I legitimately hated. A mother was supposed to protect her children from the nastiness of the world, but she ignored that and threw Damian straight into that nastiness.

I would have wrapped my arms around his shoulders and tell him if he allowed me to. If his mother wasn't going to shield him from the nastiness of the world, then I would. I would never leave his side. Ever. Damian could count on me.

* * *

I watched Fritz, and I shook my head. A part of me wanted to tell her everything, which she could tell being pretty good at reading me than I thought, but I could not tell her anything. I coul dnot allow myself to open up to her. Showing anyone that kind of weakness would mean they could use it all against me. Fritz would not. She would never do something like that, but that was something I had to learn how to believe when I was growing up. It kept me alive when I was dealing with a childhood of being surrounded by deadly and dangerous assassins.

I had to work not to show how pained I was to have disappointed Fritz. Another thing I had to learn during very uneasy childhood.

Pennyworth arrived about the same time as Fritz's mother, so he saw everything. He was ready to ask me about it.

"Master Damian," he said when I climbed into the car. His eyes held a small amount of concern for me. When I first started to live with Father, I thought it was so strange Father could be so close to the hired help, but somehow, I was able to look at that relationship through Fritz's eyes. He raised Father when his parents were killed. It was a surrogate father and son relationship. Much similar to Father's relationships to Grayson and Drake and what it had used to be with Todd. "What happened?"

"Fritz is mad at me," I admitted to him. It was useless to lie to him.

He looked at me for a moment. That always seemed to happen with me and Fritz. there were times when she would get so mad at me she would have to leave me alone for awhile, but I would never react to any of that the way I did at that moment.

"What did you do?" Pennyworth asked as he started to drive us back to the Manor.

"She is really good at reading people, and she wanted to know what had been bothering me," I actually told him. "I would not speak to her about any of it."

Pennyworth was silent for several moments when I said that. Normally, I would not have been that bothered about it. I probably would have wrote her off without a second thought, not even caring about her own feelings, but I seemed to have been a little down over what had happened between the two of us.

"She was only mad at you because she does care about you," Pennyworth said to me after awhile. His eyes had a knowing look to them , and I refused to respond to it.

I knew what he was thinking about, and any kind of response would have only confirm it all for him. It was hard not to notice how easily Fritz would support me and without question. then, there was her lighthearted and easygoing attitude made me feel like I wanted to become a little better. She could bring out the best in people, and I would never push her away.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I walked into the Manor, and I could tell something different was going to happen. Father was there, and he was quietly speaking with one of the League members, that alien Superman who somehow fooled the whole world he was not Clark Kent even though they look so similar. Something pretty big must have happened if Father allowed him to be in Gotham City. They may have considered each other to be friends, but Father actually did not like him in Gotham, feeling the worst kind of trouble followed him wherever he went. They stopped talking when they saw me.

"Damian," Kent said to me in greeting. He was one of the few people outside Father's immediate group of people in Gotham City who tried to treat me with some amount of kindness.

As I went to leave the room, I acknowledged him. I was too busy thinking about what happened to Fritz that day to be a part of the present. I stopped walking for a moment and went back to Father and Kent. They wanted to speak to me. that much I was able to see even when I was not fully paying attention to everything around me.

Apparently Clark Kent did not come alone. He brought his son, Jonathan Kent, with him. There was something important about that.

Jonathan Kent was more like his own father in appearance and demeanor. He acted like the simple Kansas farmer that was in his blood, so to speak, but it was nothing I would have mocked as Fritz acted much the same way. I was numbed to that sort of demeanor. If one could look closely enough at Kent, one would see the fire in his eyes he must have gotten from his mother. There was no way he was completely like his father. He had always been sickly, but that may have been from his mixture of Kryptonian genetics.

"Damian," Father was saying, and by the tone of his voice, I could tell he was trying to be patient as he was trying to tell me something that was both very important and not what I would have wanted to hear. He wanted me to listen to him. "The Team needs your help."

I quirked an eyebrow at my father. "I can understand that, but it did not work out the last time. We could never get along."

Kent was not happy at the notion of my return to the Team. Drake would have been the person who made sure they would remember how trying my time with the Team had been, and any new members would learn about it as well. It was to be expected with Drake.

Kent's father would have been able to understand that. "They need all of the help they could get. They do need you."

I made a face, but I resigned myself to the situation. Because the nature of my work for Father, I knew about my responsibility to help where I was needed. Kent was just as resigned as I was, but I knew he would have much to say about that.

"Master Bruce," Pennyworth said. "Baby has arrived."

Father had looked at me, and I shrugged. She was mad at me, so she should not have been there. That had always happened. He nodded at Pennyworth, and we took that to mean we should not talk about that for as long as Fritz would be there. Especially when Fritz was there. she would risk her life to help us.

Fritz came into the room, back to wearing the classless t-shirt and sweatpants she loved so much. She was not as mad as before, so she probably used the drive to the Manor to make herself calm down. Kent's father and mine left the room, probably to talk out the finer details of my second time with the Team.

"You," Fritz said, her voice raising just a little to show me she was still not that happy at me. "Are very infuriating, you know that right?"

"One would say if has to do with our conflicting personalities," I remarked.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Since you're the one who said it, probably not."

Kent watched out interaction with a bemused expression on his face. That sort of reaction would have come from anyone who would first meet Fritz.

"Why are you here?" I asked her.

"Oh, yeah," she said like she had almost forgotten why she was there. It did happen to her quite frequently. "I'm not mad at you."

"That is good," I said.

"Well, duh," she said. "Anyway. . ." She looked almost self-conscious with Kent being there for hear everything she was going to say to me. "I'll always be there for you. No matter what."

"Even when you get mad at me?" I said to her. As always that was pretty humbling for someone like me.

When I lived with Mother, any member of the League of Shadows had to earn that kind of respect and trust, but I was starting to learn that was never the case with Fritz. That was where one started with Fritz. She would be the one to truthfully say that to me of all people. I would always believe and trust her in return. There was something about that kind of openness that sort of demands it from the people around her.

"Even when you can be so infuriating," Fritz said. She held an envelop. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to do something to keep my grandma from harping at me."

She went to leave the room, and Kent and I could only watch her leave. Fritz had that effect on people.

"Who was that?" Kent asked, being completely bemused by her and what she was like.

If one was not used to having a conversation with Fritz, she could be too much and confusing. It was why I liked her so much.

"She is Baby Fritz," I told him, almost smiling when I said her ridiculous nickname. "She. . .is a friend. . ."


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Who was that?" Kent asked me. He was not sure what to make of someone like Fritz.

"She is Baby Fritz," I said to him. "She is a friend. . ."

That was probably one of the first times I admitted it to myself out loud much less to another person. It was true. there had to be a legitimate reason why I would tolerate her for extended periods of time.

My admission surprised Kent more than it surprised me. Drake had probably gotten to him before he came to the Manor. No one expected me to have any kind of friendship beyond Grayson, only Grayson because he felt like he had to, according to Drake, much less a friendship with someone like Fritz. We had diverging personalities, and she was the type of person I should have easily hated and found to be intolerable.

"Friend?" Kent asked. "Did I hear you right? Friend?"

"I thought you possessed super hearing," I replied. "You heard me right."

"Tim said. . ." Kent went to explain.

"Drake and I hate each other," I told him. "Of course he would tell you I cannot function within human company."

Kent grimaced. He probably realized what he was saying could imply, and he assumed many things about me without having met me.

"What did you expect?" I asked him. I was not going to blame him for that.

"Honestly?" Kent asked, sounding relieved at how calm I was going to be. "I would have expected you to have your sword out, demanding a fight."

"I did not have a chance to grab it just yet," I replied. Dealing with Fritz for several years made it easier for one to speak to other people.

Kent looked back at me in disbelief. "Was that a joke? Did you just make a joke?"

"Do not make such a big deal of it," I said.

"You almost sounded human," Kent remarked. "Almost."

"And," I replied, getting tired of comments like that. "You could almost be considered human."

Kent went to say something, but he stopped himself when he realized he could not really say anything in response. He was relieved when Fritz reappeared.

"What did you have to do?" I asked her.

"My grandma sat me down to make a thank-you note," she said.

"Sit you down?" Kent asked.

"I can't sit still long enough to write that note," she told him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Maybe you should have written it in your favorite tree," I suggested, quirking up an eyebrow at her.

She cackled her phlegmy laugh. "I can't write a letter when I'm hanging upside down. I'm not that skilled."

Fritz looked back at Kent like she was trying to figure him out. Her eyes were pretty willful that they made Kent flinch a little, unsure of what to make of her. Then, she gave him one of her bright smiles.

"I'm Baby," she said to him, and I had to keep myself from glowering at the way she was speaking to him. Way too sweet for my liking.

Kent returned that smile as he shook her hand. "Jonathan Kent."

I looked away from them in that moment. They were looking at each other in a way I could not allow myself to suffer through. That look bothered me, and it cut straight through me.

Even I knew what that look could have meant. When I looked back at Fritz, I had to allow it to happen since she would have wanted it to happen.

If it had made her happy. . .

* * *

I walked back into the room, and that was when I was able to really see the other guy. He was much taller than me, and though he acted otherwise, he seemed to be much stronger than anyone else around him. His hair was black, and behind his glasses, he had those bright blue eyes that were so full of kindness and power that made me think he could see my soul.

Me and Damian talked to each other, one trying to become much better than the other. He watched it all with some surprised, but the longer it happened, the more amused he had started to become. I made eye contact with him which made him seem more unsettled, and it became more pronounced when I gave him a bright smile.

"I'm Baby," I said to him. A part of me was wondering what could happen from that moment on. I had an idea of what I wanted. I was starting to like him a little bit. That was hard to not like him. He had those kind eyes.

He returned my smile as he went to shake my hand. "Jonathan Kent."

We quietly spoke to each other, getting to know each other a little bit better. I liked the way we were speaking to each other, and he handled how I spoke like it was normal and acceptable. Something was going to begin between the two of use, and we both were willing to allow it to happen. Plans were made for the two of use to meet again before I quickly left.

At the time I wasn't really registering the conflicted look Damian was working really hard to hide from the two of us. Whatever was happening between me and Jonathan was really bothering Damian for whatever reason. At the time, I wasn't going to accept that just yet. I wasn't ready to think about that at the time.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

There came a day after that meeting when I was taken back to the Team. I may not have wanted to admit to it, but I was not looking forward to it. We did not part ways on good terms when I left the group, and things could only have gotten worse over those several years.

I walked into the meeting, and I created an entrance. It was to be expected. They did not want me there. The Flash's grandson from the future stopped talking the moment he saw me, and he narrowed his eyes at me, not sure what to make of all of this. He arrive when I had left, so he understood what could happen next. Wonder Girl was with Drake, and the two of them glared at me. Expected.

Oddly enough Kent was the only person who did not mind me being there. The cynic within me would have thought it to do with him being the son of the "big, blue boyscout," but I knew he was spending a lot of time with Fritz lately. She could bring out the best in people. Or, he knew he was her friend, understanding that they should make things easier for me. Oddly enough, there was that part of me that would have to say she did bring out the best in people. She could have that effect on people.

"I would say welcome back," the Flash's future grandson, Bart Allen, was saying. "But. . ."

I barely reacted to that. It was something I expected from the time I knew the Team needed me. They would always automatically side with Drake. Always.

"I would say the same thing about you," I deadpanned, but it was not as venomous as it normally would have been.

There was no need to be.

They were allies, and though they may act like it, they were not enemies. It was another thing I had learned from Fritz. She may have freely given her trust and respect, but I would have to earn theirs which I was willing to do.

Kent shook his head at Allen. "He's one of us, Bart. This isn't a place for those kinds of comments."

"I disagree," Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, mumbled.

"No," Kent said. "He is." Kent held out his hand to me. "Welcome back, Robin."

I stared at his hand for a moment, feeling all kinds of conflicting emotions. There was a really good reason as to why Fritz would waste her time with him. He was the only member of the Team who was willing to have me there. Even after everything that had happened in the past to cause me to leave that first time and everything Drake was saying about me.

I took his hand and shook it. Maybe it could be the beginning of a strong partnership.

"It good to be back, Superboy," I said, shaking that hand. "All things considered."

* * *

Me and Jonathan were able to have some lunch date-thing over the first weekend we met each other. It was definitely something I was looking forward to for the rest of the week. Jonathan was someone I really wanted it get to know him much better and maybe move on to something more.

I was telling my cousin that plan to meet Jonathan and everything about him. She would have been the person to be interested in hearing that from me, and she would have loved to give me any kind of advice.

Her reaction surprised me, though, after I told her everything about him. She was quiet like she was having all kinds of troubles even believing what I had told her. She wasn't happy at all, that much I could tell.

"What about Damian?" She asked me. That was the only thing she was focusing on at the moment.

I didn't expect that from her. It struck me full of surprise, and I became pretty speechless for a moment. I didn't know what I could even say to her.

"What about him?" I finally asked her when I was able to find the words to speak to her. Why would she ask that kind of question? Really. . .what was so important about that?

"You two have always been pretty close," she said to me, giving me a strange look. "I thought. . ."

"Why can't a girl and a guy be friends without people saying we're going to have any kind of sexual relationship?" I snapped back at her. I was really angry over what had she said to me. "I thought you would understand that."

She became pretty quiet after that, always hating whenever people would make snappy judgements about her.

Anyway, what she had suggested to me was pretty ridiculous. It would've never happened between the two of us. We were too different. I'm not his type. Not even close. It would've never have worked between the two of us, anyway.

I would always be his closest of friends and strongest of supporters. No matter what would happen. We both would know and understand it. There was no need to change it. I most valued the close bond of friendship we shared, and I didn't want to lose it.

"What's Jonathan Kent like?" She asked me.

"Sweet," I told her. "Smart. It feels like. . .I don't know. . .it's hard to describe. . ."

"I have to meet him to decide," she said to me. "But, he sounds perfect for you."

She seemed to be reluctant to say that to me, but she was saying that out of respect to me. There was a sense that she felt someone was even better than Jonathan, in her opinion.

"Yeah. . ." I said, and I could've sworn my voice sounded dreamy the longer I talked about him. "He definitely is."

If she was there with me at the time, I would've been able to see her press her lips together and shake her head with some disappointment. She was really good at understanding some things. Much better than I ever could.

She was probably thinking about how maybe we were both too perfect for each other. I think she had always thought someone else should be with me, even if Jonathan Kent was a pretty great guy.


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The Team had gathered together for a meeting. We were going to talk through a growing situation that both involved Intergang and everything Kent's father had been dealing with in Metropolis. We were trying to come up with any kind of plan to deal with something we knew so little about.

Intergang was the only sure thing about what we had to deal with, and even then, I had learned from past experience that Intergang would only do what was necessary for them and through means none of us would expect. They had some kind of otherworldly weapons, and there was no way to figure out where they got those weapons or how to keep them from getting those weapons.

"Who are they working for?" I asked out loud, mostly to myself than for them. I hated dealing with the unknown.

"Greed," Drake said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Money can motivate people to do all kinds of things."

I shook my head. "Money brings power. Power motivates people to do anything."

I went to grab the picture that was in front of Kent and laid it next to the two I had been looking at. They were the same picture of an Omega Symbol. For some reason, that symbol was very important to the Intergang and whomever they were working for.

"What do you know about this symbol?" I asked Kent, showing him the pictures.

"It's seen all over the oldest part of Metropolis," Kent explained. "Intergang probably started to use that symbol as their own."

"Or," I said. "They are working for someone else who uses that symbol."

Drake stared at those pictures for a moment, and he had to force himself to understand and admit that I could have been right. There were few times when we had seen that symbol in Gotham City, and it was always in connection with one, almost cult-like group.

"They call themselves the Religion of Crime," Drake said. "But, I never would have guessed they had that kind of power."

"They did," I said. "They were only waiting."

The Religion of Crime was a very shadowy organization. It was almost considered to be a cult. There were a few very powerful and charismatic individuals who ran the cult, but no one would truly know who they would be unless they were a part of that group. They were only known by strange names, almost aliases. That group valued complete control and power over another individual, and willpower was discouraged and hated. Those were the only beliefs we could ever know about them.

"Waiting for what?" Kent asked.

"They were searching for something," Drake said. "Some kind of ancient and powerful artifact."

"They found it," Kent said.

Sandsmark took the picture. "Diana knew about these beings. She always told them like she was telling scary stories. Maybe they aren't. . ."

"What did she call them?" Kent asked.

"The scarier ones?" Sandsmark said. "They're called New Gods, and they're the ones from Apokolips."

* * *

I walked over to where Jonathan was waiting for me, and when he saw me, he was quickly on his feet to greet me and pull a chair out for me.

"Hey," I said to him, giving him a small smile.

"Hey," he said. "I'm glad you could make it."

His smile went straight to his blue eyes, making them even more piercing. Those smiles shared between the two of us were the easiest. We could always talk and smile at each other.

"Me too," I said to him.

I sat in the chair in front of him as we talked over that light lunch, and I became too lost in that conversation as the world started to melt away from us.

Later, we walked through that part of Gotham, still talking with each other, but I could tell he was focusing on everything around us like he would get between me and any kind of threat.

I started to look around us as well. Damian always said I could see the world much differently than the others. I saw a symbol of the Omega painted on the closest wall, so I made us stop walking to get a better look at it. He knew what it was without even looking at it.

"Come on," Jonathan said to me, trying to pull me away from there. "It's not important."

I pulled away from him and shook my head. "I'm disagreeing with you on that one. I know I saw it before. I swear I did. . ."

"Come on," he said to me again, trying to pull me with him. "If it is so important, it probably is pretty dangerous. Probably not a good idea to be around it."

He was right, but I didn't want to admit to it out loud. I looked at that Omega Symbol once more before we left. There was something about it that was so familiar, but I wasn't exactly sure why. I was going to figure that one out.

I was too surprised about seeing that symbol that I could not be too mad at Jonathan for trying to protect me and pull me away from something that was interesting.

Maybe I could help figure that one out. Somehow. The answer could help.

He was right about that symbol being dangerous, if what I remembered about it was true. It had been around for a very long time, and it was the symbol of evil, and it had a hold of a life that wasn't really life.

If it was seen almost everywhere and more frequently, then it was coming. We were doomed, and I don't think the Justice League would be able to help us.


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I realized Fritz and Kent were on some kind of date or something like that. She was walking closely with Kent, smiling up at him far too easily for my liking. I had to constantly remind myself that if she was happy, then I would never intrude. She tended possess good judgement, that much I knew.

Kent had always been kind to the people around him, but it was even more so whenever he was around Fritz. He was good to her, and even though it really pained me to admit it, she deserved it. She would always believe it.

That day even though they were lost in each other, Kent was still pretty alert when they walked together, and he was ready to jump in front of her to protect her if he felt like he needed to. Why would I ever complain about that?

Kent should have been a little bit more careful at how protective he was seeming to be. She would be able to read through what he was doing, and knowing Fritz, she would work to figure him out. that would be able to create many problems. Especially for Kent.

Fritz gave him a questioning look as they walked, and she shook her head as she walked with him. She started to look around them herself. At least, she was not trying to figure out why he felt the need to be so observant of everything around them. She saw that Omega Symbol painted on the wall, and most people would have walked passed it without a second glance. Fritz was not like most people, though.

She walked over to the symbol, studying it very carefully. Kent was trying to pull her away from it, not wanting her anywhere near it. The Omega Symbol could harm anyone who was not careful around it, and Fritz never even knew the meaning of that word. She studied that symbol like she had seen it before and could understand what could possibly mean.

Fritz lightly touched for a moment, thoughtful and dead to the world. Kent was finally able to pull her away from the symbol, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he tried to pull her away from that symbol. She snuck one final look as they walked away.

She had that determined expression on her face of someone who was going to do everything possible to find the answer to those questions that were starting to bother her. Fritz was going to find that answer.

That might not be a good thing. If what Sandsmark said was true, then Fritz would jump headfirst into a very dangerous situation. I felt horrified. It was not something I want to have happen to her.

Kent better not let her down. Ever. The world was a better place with her in it.

* * *

Whenever Jonathan was in the Gotham area he would always come to see me, and like Damian, he didn't want me to change how I would act. He was comfortable in dealing with me when I would act weird or incredibly strange. He was comfortable being around me.

Mom wasn't quite so sure about him. When she first met Jonathan, she narrowed her eyes at me and pressed her lips together. She thought he was a great guy, but there was something that kept her from fully accepting what was happening. Mom would've kept it to herself, but she would have wanted it to be Damian.

"I know you were mad at Damian," she said to me. "But, this isn't the way to fix things."

"Fix what?" I asked her. At the time, I had not idea what she was talking about. "What are you talking about?"

Mom looked at me for a moment before shaking her head at me. She realizing that there were some things I didn't really know or understand what she was telling me.

"Right," she quickly said to me. "I was thinking about something else."

I tipped my head to the side. "I'm not mad at Damian."

"I can see that," Mom said, still studying me for a moment.

Jonathan was always pretty good around the whole family. He was the type of person who would melt into any situation. Even Dad had to learn to like him.

There was a day when both Jonathan and Damian were at the house at the same time. That wasn't the strangest thing possible, though. Jonathan wasn't the type of person who tolerated my friends because he felt like he had to. He treated them like they were his friends, anyway.

That wasn't what most people would do. Especially when they would deal with Damian.

"You don't act like he infuriates you," I remarked to Damian when Jonathan had left.

"He does not," he told me. "He is mildly tolerable."

It had to do with the way he said that made me wonder what was going through his head at the time.

I went to say something to him, but I stopped myself. Maybe I didn't want to know everything right then.

"How do you guys know each other?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Fathers are friends," he told me, but it was like he was saying that without even fully realizing it. There were times when he couldn't even try to hide things from me no matter how hard he would try.

"How does your dad known a journalist from Kansas?" I asked him. That didn't make any kind of sense to me.

He looked at me with surprise, but I could tell he was working to close himself off from me. Apparently there were times when I didn't deserve to know some big secrets. He wasn't going to tell them to me. No matter how close we were.

"Stranger things have happened," he said to me. "Look at us."

"Why do I get the feeling you have a big secret from me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"And," Damian said to me, keeping calm and trying to sound understanding. "Why do I get the feeling you are becoming paranoid?"

Impasse.


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

It was finally summer, and I took the new free time to wear my swimsuit as I sat in the yard to tan as I looked through some of the family photo albums from Mom and Dad's families. There was a reason why that Omega Symbol was so familiar. I probably remembered it all from my crazy family members on both sides.

I know I did, but I couldn't find anything. Apparently my family didn't know about that symbol beyond what was seen on the streets all around the world. I laid them on the ground and closed my eyes when I laid my head back. I hated not knowing anything, so my patience was very, very short.

"How are you sitting still?" The voice of Damian broke my concentration.

I opened my eyes and went to shield them with my hand. "It's summer."

"Normally you would be running around," he said to me as he sat next to me. As always, he was dressed in nice, expensive-looking clothing. "You never knew the meaning of the word relaxation."

I sat up even more to face him and narrowed my eyes at him. "Maybe I don't feel like it."

His eyes flashed for a moment, and he looked like he was really working to keep me from seeing his emotions or whatever he was thinking about at that moment. He looked at my leg that had been broken that year, and he could see that faint scar where my bone had poked through the skin from my car accident. It must have been without him realizing it when he reached out to lightly touch the faint scar.

I looked back at Damian, and he had to quickly pull his hand back when he had realized what was happening. We looked at each other for a moment before Damian's eyes quickly looked away from me. That was much more different than ever before, but we were acting like it had never happened.

"Does your leg still bother you?" He quickly asked me like that would be the best way to forget what had happened in that short moment.

"Stiff. . .sometimes. . ." I said to him. "But, that's not that bad."

"You're not on the move."

"It doesn't hurt at all," I went to reassure him. "I'm fine. I had to stand still at some point in time."

He studied me for a moment, and I could see the concern that was in his eyes.

"There is no need to be strong about it," he said to me. "I would be able to help you."

He said that very quietly like he wasn't used to saying something like that. It was something he wasn't used to saying to just anyone, so it had to be a pretty big deal for him to say to another person. That much I could tell. Damian was sitting pretty closely to me once we had started talking to each other.

"My whole life I had been moving around non-stop," I said to him. "Then I got seriously hurt in an accident when I should've moved slowly. Maybe I learned how to stay still at some point in my life."

He looked at me carefully, and he was pretty quiet for a moment. Something was going through his mind, troubling him from what I had said.

"You should be careful," he quietly said to me. "More careful."

"That's what I'm doing, Dee," I said to him. "I'm being more careful."

"That might be a good thing," Damian said quietly, looking away from me for a moment. "There is such a thing as miracles."

It was his attempt at making a light-hearted comment, so I snorted as I lightly elbowed him in the side.

"You say that like it's impossible."

"With you," he said. "It can be impossible."

"Now," I said to him, wearing a small smile. "You're only saying that to make me feel better."

"That would be your ego talking right now."

From then on, things were back to normal between the two of us. If there was anything normal between us. There were times when I could tell he was keeping secrets from me, and no matter how I would ask him, he wouldn't tell me anything.

It was getting to be pretty annoying.

Maybe it was a good thing we were only friends. How was I going to fully trust and give myself over to another person if they didn't trust me with something pretty important?

I think Damian was able to see that, and it might have been something that was making him deal with every day.

It was why Jonathan was such a relief. He was so open, especially to me. There was no secrets between us. Damian could see that, and he always wore an emotionless expression on his face whenever he saw us.

I wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, but even I could see he wasn't going to accept it. I was not sure why, but the look he gave me made me completely reconsider everything. Maybe I made a big mistake?

No. . .I would argue with myself. I was probably confusing the overprotective feelings of a close friend with something else. There was no way we would've been perfect for each other, and he would be able to choose anyone better.

Anyway, I had Jonathan.


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I had it all planned out. Me and Jonathan were going to have some kind of romantic evening together. It took all of the planning that I had to come up with that plan for that night, and I really was looking forward to spending that night with Jonathan.

He was at my house one day when he was in Gotham, and I was quickly talking to him about it, my way of showing how much I looking forward to that date. He listened attentively to me, and I would've guessed he was also looking forward to it. He always loved to spend time with me. Jonathan wasn't outright smiling, but there was that easy lightheartedness deep within his blue eyes.

It's clear why I wanted to be with him. We were so much alike. At least that was what I thought. He didn't have any secrets, and he told me everything. Again. . .that was what I had thought at the time.

I really had no idea what was happening. I guess I did live a very sheltered life.

That night, I was waiting for Jonathan, starting to become pretty mad over the fact he was starting to become pretty late for the date. He barely had a decent excuse over being that late, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He meant that much to me.

My cell phone buzzed. It was Jonathan, and I went to answer it. Still willing to give him the better of the doubt. Still feeling pretty hopeful over what could happen. I thought he was the only person who could do that for me. Almost forgetting about Damian. Almost. He was still always there in the back of my mind.

"Hey," he said to me, sounding pretty hurried and pretty disappointed what he was supposed to say to me. "I can't make it. . ."

"Oh," I said, but I sounded pretty emotionless. I was working to not let him know what I was thinking.

I could tell he felt pretty bad at not meeting me that night. He would have been frowning and shaking his head, disappointed over what had happened to keep him from meeting with me. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"That's fine," I said after a while. It was really hard for me to even speak to him. "I could go bother one of my friends at the pool."

He had better have a really good reason to not meet up with me.

Jonathan was babbling about what we could do sometime soon, instead. He was going to really need to make it up to me. He had better make it up to me. It tried to think he understood I could hear everything that was going on in the background of our phone conversation I could've sworn I heard Tim and Damian arguing with each other, but I wasn't going to say anything more about what was happening. He wasn't going to say anything about it, either.

"Baby," he quietly said to me. "Take care. . ."

"You. . .too. . ." I said back to him. I could hear the strong worry in his voice.

That very rarely had ever happened. There was something about that tone of voice made me say that. Something was bothering him and made him feel the need to say that to me. The conversation had ended, but as always, we both wanted the conversation to last much longer.

* * *

I was watching Kent as he spoke on the phone with Fritz. He may have been speaking quietly with her, but I knew what he was telling her. Fritz was so looking forward to that night. She had been talking about it non-stop whenever I went to her house that week.

It made sense why Kent had to stop pacing to sit down and run a hand through his hair. He had been pretty upset as I thought he would be after saying something like that to her. There was something about Fritz that had made anyone lucky to know her pretty well.

She was not going to yell at Kent for canceling their plans for the night. Fritz was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, believing he must have had the right reason to not make it possible to find a reason to not spend that evening with her. Most people take advantage of that, and it was lucky for him that Kent was not like most people.

Kent was very lucky to have her, and if he was smart, he had better make sure she did not have a good reason to push away from him. He ended the call, but he still seemed to be pretty quiet and upset. That was what happens when someone would disappoint her.

There was something about the attack that made me feel very unsettled, though I was not going to speak about it to anyone. It would have meant I was admitting a weakness. The attack was something that would have made me worry about something about Fritz, and the longer the Titans spoke, the more unsettled Kent seemed to be.

"The attack," he said to me. "Is at the pool close to Fritz's house. She's going to be there."

I had to work to keep my emotions in check. Uneasiness. Extreme uneasiness. She would be in the center of it and knowing her, she would try to fight herself free even if she could not fight well for herself. We had better get to her in time, and I could tell Kent was wearing that same expression on his face.


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was at the pool, not to swim, but to speak with one of my friends. Her name was Lauren, and she didn't mind Damian being around. As long as I liked and tolerated him, she was fine with him. Lauren knew so much about the plan I had for the night, so she was surprised to see me there.

"Why are you even here?" She asked me. There was something big going on, so they were not there that night save for very few people. What happened to Jonathan?

I shrugged. "Something came up."

I sat in the guard house across from her as she and the two other guards were waiting for someone to show up. Lauren studied me for a moment, and I could see how upset and concerned she was starting to become. She didn't like what I had just said to her about Jonathan. She had thought he was so good for me. Thought. Believed. I didn't need that concern. she had not idea what was going on. so she didn't have the right to judge what was or wasn't happening in my life.

Maybe I was more upset than I thought I was.

"You know. . .if I were you," Lauren said quietly to me. "I wouldn't have tolerated that."

I shook my head. She really didn't know what she was talking about, but I could appreciate her concern once I was able to deal with all of my emotions.

"He sounded pretty harried," I told her. "And, he sounded pretty upset he had to cancel on me."

"I love how you see the best in people," she said to me. "But, there are times when I think you could burned over it."

"I won't get burned," I told her. "It's fine. Jon. . ."

We had to stop talking. There was some bad feeling that was making deal with it. Even though it was pretty warm out, the two of use were shuddering from that bad feeling.

"Did you feel that?" I asked Lauren.

She nodded. "Something bad's going to happen. I can totally feel it."

We walked out on the pool deck, and we looked around us to figure out what was going on. There was nothing on the outside that we could see to make that uneasy feeling seem justified.

Something started to slowly walk around the perimeter of the fence of the pool. It didn't exactly walk right, and it walked in such a way that had made us wonder and think about the television shows and movies that had been brought out into the public when people wouldn't be creative enough for something else.

Zombies. They were totally zombies.

Lauren and I looked at each other, both understanding the enormity of what was happening. We both knew about zombies from those shows and those movies, and we knew what we needed to do to stop them.

"Where's that skimmer thing?" I asked her. "Or, our shepherd's hook?"

Lauren showed me where they were, and we both grabbed them, ready for any kind of an attack. My grip tightened around the pole, doing my best to keep myself from showing all of the uneasiness and fear that I had been feeling. Lauren didn't need to be that afraid.

That was when they showed up. They were called the Titans, and they were already well known in their own right from working with the greatest heroes on Earth (and beyond from the sound of things). They were always the people we had looked up to when we were a little younger because they worked with the likes of Batman and Superman. We watched them deal with those zombies like it was nothing. That feeling of dread was replaced with that sense of excitement over seeing them in action. No one would have believed that.

Because my guard was down, something went to grab me from behind, making me drop the pool skimmer I was holding. I tried to free myself, but the thing holding me was strong. There was no way for me to get free.

"Try to stop me," the man's voice said from behind me, making my blood run cold over how soulless his voice had sounded. "And, this innocent will die."

Superboy and Robin stopped what they were doing to look at what was happening to me, and one of the others went to help me, causing Superboy to hold out his arm in front of him as a way to stop him.

"No. Don't," I could hear him say, and the other guy was going to argue with him before deciding against it.

The look on Superboy's face was one of horror over what could happen to me if he did or didn't act. He hated having to be frozen in place. Robin, though he was still watching everything to size it all up to help me, looked emotionless, but there was something about him that was making me feel like he was just as horrified as Superboy.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to sound scared and shaken over what was happening even though I was too calm.

That distracted him for a moment, and I was able to quickly pull away from him and try to run to the safety of the Titans. I was a slow runner, so the man was able to catch up with me. That was when Superboy was able to act.

He was so quickly at my side and just as quickly getting me away from there that I wasn't aware of it being possible to be that fast. Superboy had been holding me for an extra moment before he quickly pulled away from me. I was able to look up at Superboy's face, probably the one time I was able to closely study him.

The dark hair and the kind blue eyes were very familiar to me, and it took me a little too long to figure that one out. Here I thought I was the smart one.

Jonathan Kent was Superboy, and I was pretty sure of it.


	33. Chapter 33

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The aftermath of what had happened was pretty chaotic, and there were times when I wasn't even sure of what had happened. Superboy. . .or maybe I should just call him Jonathan. . .took off his cape and wrapped it around my shoulders as more help had started to arrive.

I gave him a questioning look when he had wrapped it around my shoulders. "Why?"

"Shock," he gently said to me, and I could recognize that tone of voice that would have belonged to no one else but Jonathan. I didn't need any more proof. He had to be Jonathan.

He was quietly giving orders to the other, but he had never once left my side, being almost protective of me after what had happened to me. There was no reason for Superboy to be that concerned for me, but Jonathan one important reason. I kept quiet, not wanting to talk about it in the open and understanding that he wanted to keep that a secret, an important reason to keep it a secret. I just kept looking up at him.

In the distance, Robin studied for a moment. At the time, I wondered if maybe he could read into what was going through my head at the moment as I was looking up at Jonathan. Or, maybe I was just being paranoid after what had happened. That was something I would do, and it always seemed like it was from living too close to Gotham.

My parents had arrived, and they pulled me into a hug. Both were relieved that I had turned out to be safe and alright. Superboy was long gone before I could even realize it. He left his red cape with me, wrapped around my shoulders. There was no way for me to be able to return it to Superboy, but I could be able to get it back to Superboy. . .Jonathan.

I had no idea what had just happened, but I didn't have a problem with that. There really were things in the world I probably didn't need to know so much about.

* * *

Fritz's parents rushed to her and embraced her. They seemed to be pretty relieved she was alright even after being in the center of the dangerous attack. That was enough for me. She was safe.

She still had Kent's cape shen she had left with her parents. If I was Kent, I would have been a little bit more worried about her. It was the looks she had been giving him from the moment he had saved her. They were looks of realization.

Kent had no idea of what she had figured out. He was probably not aware of how intelligent she actually was, and the way she saw the world was very unique and unheard of. That was why he risked being the one to save her, though she probably did not need him, and to make sure she was safe and alright in the aftermath before her parents had arrived. There was no way she would have figured him out.

"She still has your cape," I told Kent.

His eyes were full of that realization when he realized he left something pretty important with her. "I don't know how I'm going to get that back."

"You should have paid closer attention," I told him.

Kent looked at me, but he had to come back. He shook his head. "I was worrying about something else entirely."

I could not argue with him about that. Fritz was incredibly lucky that she was unscathed over what had happened. Very lucky. There would be times much later when I would have to keep myself from starting to think about what could have happened to her.

Even though I hated to admit it, I could see why he would be like that. It should have been much worse for him since they had some kind of budding romantic relationship. I would have expected nothing less.

"You should be careful around Fritz," I said to Kent.

Kent narrowed his eyes at me, suspecting a different motive for my warning. "Meaning?"

"She recognized you," I told him. He was never going to learn about that. Better not learn about that.

Kent shook his head. "Not possible."

"You do not wear a mask," I suggested to him.

"It's not about the mask," Kent replied. "And, you know it." He was not concerned by what I had said to him. People assume she was not as smart as she actually seemed to be, and I had always suspected she encouraged that sort of belief. "Anyway. . .she wouldn't figure it out. My dad fooled my mom for years, and she worked with him during that period of time."

He was going to be in for a rude awakening if he thought like that. She would make him forget about that opinion. A part of me was going to look forward to that, if I was ever going to be honest with myself.

"Right," I told him, but I was not convinced. I knew Fritz. "She is more observant than you realize."

"And, so was my mom," Kent replied.

When she would tell him that she knew of his secret, I could see it was not going to be pretty. The one thing she really hated was the people close to her keeping huge and life-changing secrets from her.


	34. Chapter 34

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The bright red caped was folded on my bed, and I reached out to touch it as I looked at it. Whenever I was in my room, I would always look at it when I wasn't busy with something else. It had the symbol that had meant so much to the whole world for practically two generations. It was sort of an awestruck kind of feeling that I was dealing with whenever I lightly touched the cool fabric of that cape. It's a symbol of something. . .someone. . .greater.

I was of two minds about it. Was I going to keep it a secret while subtly letting him know that I had found him out? Or, was I going to demand he tell me everything? I hated it when people I try to be close to keep secrets from me (looking Damian, there), even when they feel like it would protect me from the nastiness that was the truth. It proved they didn't know or trust me as well as they claim they do, and I thought Jonathan was different from Damian.

Despite what I tried to do to make myself feel otherwise, I felt hurt at that sense of betrayal brought on by those secrets. I tried to force myself to understand, but it never worked for me. We should have been close, but those secrets were something that had kept us apart.

I hid the cape in a pile of my sweatshirts I refused to put away. That was when I made my decision. I was going to give him some time to tell me what he was actually doing. He was probably going to tell me what he was actually doing. He was probably going to tell me in his own time. No need to force the matter.

Jonathan had come over, and he pulled me to him, and he wasn't going to let go of me for that moment. I went to pull away after it was starting to become too awkward.

"I'm glad to see you're alright," he quietly said to me, reluctantly pulling away from me. "When I found out. . ."

I could see the worry in his eyes that he couldn't show me as Superboy. This was probably the first time he allowed himself to show any kind of emotion. I reach up to lightly touch his face, making him close his eyes for that moment.

"I'm fine," I told him. "Now, you don't need to worry about me."

He held me another time, trying to get himself to believe it. "I know. I know. It's just really difficult. . ."

I lightly kissed his cheek. "There's a reason why I keep you around."

I was looking up at him, so I could clearly see the look on his face the moment I said that. He lost all of that worry, and he looked pretty amused. Jonathan was almost smiling, but he was trying to stop himself.

"You seem to have trouble following you wherever you go," he remarked. "You really should be more careful."

"Trouble would still follow me, no matter how careful I would be," I told him. I quirked up an eyebrow at him. "It's a good thing I have you."

Jonathan looked at me for that moment, and he quickly looked away from me. I don't think he knew what to make of my lighthearted comment. It could've mean almost anything to anyone. How would he respond to me?

"Good luck with that," he said to me. "I'm just as bad as you."

He was trying to brush it aside, but I could see he was taking in what I had said to him. What did I or didn't I know?

"No," I said to him, showing to him how well I had thought of him. "You're one of the best."

* * *

I made sure I was never at Fritz's house whenever Kent was there. If I was ever going to admit to anyone and be honest with myself, I did not like seeing them act like a couple. I know Kent was good to her, and she was pretty happy with him. There was nothing I could do to make myself not want to make her push him away. She did not need to choose, and I did not want to be the one to make her choose.

She was outside, helping her father move fallen sticks from the storm in the yard. Fritz saw me, and she stopped what she was doing to walk over to me.

"Hey, Stranger," she said, giving me a one-armed hug, "How's it going?"

"I have been. . .busy lately," I said to her, making myself not return that hug.

"No call? No text?" She said, but she was not angry over it. "Were you on the moon, or what?"

"You could say that," I said to her.

She gave me a small, surprised look. There was no way she would have been able to expect my response. I very rarely made any kind of lighthearted response to anything, and that was what my response to her was.

"Was that a joke?" she asked me. "Did you just make a joke?"

"It was mostly a comment," I defended myself.

"I'm saying it's a joke," she replied, and she gave me a sly smile. "Keep hanging around me, boy, and you'll be able to fool people into thinking you're normal."

Nothing really had changed between, even though I could feel just by looking at her. She was correct in what she had jokingly said to me. Being around her did make me forget my assassin's childhood and make me feel like I could be an almost normal person. Fritz had that effect on me, and it was why I cherished my time with her.


	35. Chapter 35

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I went to my mom's family's place for a couple of weeks. It was something I did every summer for my whole life, and I really looked forward to it for that whole year. My mom's family was incredibly interesting, and there never was a dull moment with them.

They grew up in New Orleans and were very French in attitude, but they were fiercely American like any Southerner should be. I had aunts and cousins and close family friends with strange and varying beliefs that sort of mixed together to create even stranger traditions. No one in the family really cared, though. The owned it, never once caring what other people had thought about them.

An older cousin picked me up from the airport and took me back to the old family home. We were quickly and excitedly talking at each other as the drive happened. It had been awhile since we last seen each other, so we really had to work to catch up on everything.

When we walked into the house, taking in some of my stuff, my grandparents were busy watching the news. It was a first for them because they had always felt the news could be far too biased that they would only get their news from the community news shows, feeling they didn't have any kind of an agenda behind it all. Maybe it wasn't as strange when I saw what was on the news. They were talking about some horrible murder, but right behind the scene was that one symbol that had always seemed to usher in the something horrible.

That Omega Symbol.

It was enough to make anyone's blood run cold, and that was before they would learn what that symbol truly meant.

The way my grandparents and one of my older uncles reacted to that scene made me wonder if they knew a little more about that symbol than the regular person. Why was I surprised by that?

At the time, I thought I could remember seeing that symbol in some of the old chests in the attic, but that symbol was never alone in whatever they had kept it. Of course, they would know a little bit about that symbol.

"Hey. . .what's wrong?" I asked them, and they were quickly on their feet with the television off as they went to pull me into a hug for each of them.

They were very happy to see men, and they made sure to change the subject from what they had been watching on the news. Apparently, I wasn't supposed to be concerned with what was happening even though it was all happening in my own world. It was going to be something that would concern me eventually.

During that first dinner, I locked away those small concerns and acted carefree for them. No need to make them suspicious or concerned and take away my only chance at finding those answers I knew would be in that attic. Somewhere.

Later that night when everyone in the house were deeply asleep, I quietly climbed up into the attic, holding my small flashlight and my cellphone as I looked around. They were going to keep it all in a place that was both hidden and easy to get to. I knelt in front of a shelf and ran my free hand underneath the shelf, and I touched an old leather-bound book which I was able to pull out.

It was only when I started to look between the covers did I start to realize what could happen in the foreseeable future. I made sure to carefully record each page of that thick book, so I could get that information the people who would need it all the most. The last page that had held what could be a very important symbol. For some reason, I knew that I needed to keep it safe and hidden until it was needed, and it was going to be needed. Hopefully not soon, but by the looks of things that hope was going to be pretty flimsy.

* * *

The recent news had upset everyone very greatly. That Omega Symbol, as always, was in the middle of it all. There was a horrific massacre that had happened in the streets of Metropolis. The blood of the victims were used to copy that Omega Symbol all over the scene. Too many people have slaughtered and too much blood spilt for the sake of that one symbol. It seemed like that one symbol was starting to make people do horrible things.

My childhood made that sort of thing impossible not to believe, but Fritz made me seem more human. I could start to believe that with the evil, there was good within all of us, and there were ways to influence one or the other. I could start to believe that there were ways to influence the good, but there were very few times where I was able to witness that to ever happen. It was easier to influence that evil part within humanity.

Kent appeared, carrying his caped folded over an arm. He was wearing a confused and a little concerned expression on his face when he set the cape down in front of me. I reached out to touch it before I gave him a questioning look.

"Found that in my bag," he told me quietly. "After I saw Baby. How was she able to figure that out?"

"She sees the world differently from most of us," I told him. "That is why she is able to figure some things out that none would have ever learned."

Jonathan nodded, starting to believe it, and he gave me a look like he would have expected me to say something like that about another person. "That almost sounded like a compliment."

I narrowed my eyes at him, making him never pursue that line of thought even though he would never forget about it. "Two things, Kent. You should tell her if you care about her and trust her."

He became a little grim at that, but I knew he understood what I had said to him. "The other?"

"Even though she knows," I said to him. "It would stop with her."

Gordon wheeled into view, and she looked frustrated. Drake was going to make a comment about her and Grayson, but one glare from her kept him silent.

"We have the same breach," Gordon said to me. "I thought you fixed it."


	36. Chapter 36

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Kent looked at me, and he was clearly unsure about what Gordon had meant when she came back into the room. Gordon crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation from me.

"Breach?" Kent asked me when he was finally able to understand what Gordon had said to me. "I thought this was impenetrable?"

"It is," Gordon remarked. "At least it was supposed to be." She looked to me. "Care to explain, Damian?"

"Fritz can get through. . .somehow. . ." I admitted. "She does not know anything, but she gave us useful information in the past."

Gordon shook her head. "She would be able to figure it out. Baby has the capabilities."

I grimaced a little, and I think only Kent was able to see that slight look that had passed across my face. I could see why Father had been a little irritated over the Kryptonian who was Superman and Kent's father. I did not like that nickname that had been given to her. It did not matter to me if she did not mind it. That nickname could be very. . .demeaning for her. I may not want to admit to myself much less out loud to anyone who would know the two of us. Fritz was not the type of person who should be called that. Very demeaning.

"I was tasked to divert her interest in hacking into different systems she has no reason being in," I admitted. "She had clearly ignored me."

Kent had to really work to keep himself from smiling at what I had said. If anyone would know how Fritz would chafe at orders from anyone, it would have been Kent. Even though I did not like it, I could see that Kent knew her well enough to sort of appreciate what she would do over something that would have happened. He did not mind about how Fritz would act or react to things.

It was one of the few things I could have hoped for. Not the best but it was acceptable.

"She must have taken that as a challenge," Kent remarked. "If you said you had her help in the past, what's wrong now?"

He seemed to have been pretty serious about that. Gordon and I looked at each other. As a Kryptonian, he did not fully understand the intricacies within Gotham city, but I could see how we should trust her completely. I would completely trust her without question.

But, there were still other reasons. . .

"She is a civilian getting involved in a dangerous situation," I ended up saying. "If they found out about her involvement, and they would. . .she does not believe in being very careful or secretive. . .she could have been serious hurt or killed."

To his credit, Kent had grimaced when I said that to him. I would have not accepted any lesser type of reaction. He had claimed he cared about her, but I needed the proof. She did not deserve any less.

He quickly shook his head. "She can be full of surprises, you know."

Gordon shook her head, then. What Kent was suggesting was something we had never accepted before in the past. Not just anyone could be allowed within our group, which I had found to be pretty ridiculous. Drake was allowed in our little group.

"That last time was a success because anyone paying attention to what was going on in that school would have figured it out," Gordon remarked. It was not intended to be an insult because Fritz was very good at making people believe she was not as cunning and resourceful as she really seemed to be. "I don't think this time would be like that."

Kent became pretty thoughtful. He could see what a person was truly capable of which was why he ended up becoming the leader of the Titans. Fritz would later say he brought out the best in people, which could be admirable.

"What makes you think that if you hadn't seen what she had given to you?" He asked.

Gordon shook her head. "I understand, but. . .if Damian warning her hadn't worked then maybe if she learns that we're not using her information, she would stop."

Gordon left us, probably to go resecure everything Fritz had easily broken through so easily. Kent and I had looked at each other. We knew Fritz better than Gordon ever had.

"That would make her get directly involved," Kent quietly said.

"Yes," I agreed.

I went to the computer and went into the system to look for the information that Fritz had gotten for us.

She had a lot of information about that Omega Symbol, and most of it we did not even know about. it looked like that information had come from a very ancient-looking book.

"That symbol meant as the symbol of a dark evil coming here," she had written down to him after the last page of that book. "And, I'm not just saying that. It happened before, and we could only barely survive. Even though it had happened many, many years ago, there are people who could still remember it, and I think they are trying to make sure it would never happen again."

Kent stared down at the pictures that had been taken of the pages of that very old book. Somehow she had gotten her hands on that old book, and if it was all true, then something truly horrible was going to happen. Something much worse than we had ever seen before.

"Final Crisis. . ." Kent was saying very quietly to himself.


	37. Chapter 37

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I waited for Jonathan to arrive, constantly checking my phone for the time or for a text to explain why he would have been late or what that day couldn't have been a good day for him. All I had wanted was a simple explanation from him. It didn't even had to be an earth shattering explanation. Nothing. There was nothing.

I pressed my lips together, and I shook my head. I wasn't really happy over what had happened. Jonathan was supposed to be different, more reliable. He wasn't supposed to be like Damian.

A few hours had to have passed when Jonathan finally arrived. His nice-looking clothes were rumpled like he really had to put them on rather quickly before he had arrived quickly. That would be the case for someone like him, which I sometimes didn't have a problem with it. Sometimes didn't mean I was happy all of the time about the constant lack of explanation.

Jonathan walked over to me and gave me a light kiss on the lips, lightly running his hand through my long hair. We took a step back from each other, and Jonathan was still lightly touching my hair as he looked down at me.

"You're really upset about something," he had said to her. "What's wrong?"

"You're late. . ." She said. "Which I'm not really mad about because time and I really don't get along that well. What happened?"

Jonathan could only look at her, and i could tell he was struggling with himself to tell me something pretty important. He quickly shook his head, not allowing it to even be possible to tell me everything.

"I was busy," he told me.

"Busy?" I asked him, quirking up an eyebrow at him. I could be pretty patient when I knew I had needed to be. "With what?"

That was when he should have said something in the vein of "family business" or "favor for a friend." I would have understood both of those, and I would have believed it to be a partial truth. he would have respected me enough to tell me what really was happening with him.

Too bad that was only wishful thinking.

"Just busy," he had quickly said to me, and it was pretty clear he wasn't going to ever tell me anything more.

I narrowed my eyes at him,and I was making sure he knew I wasn't all that happy with him. Jonathan quickly looked away from me, understanding why I would be upset with him. He should have known about that cape.

"Anyway. . ." He was trying to say to me in a way to get me away from that awkward subject. "How's it been all the way over here?"

I shook my head. "You don't get to change the subject like that, Jon."

My voice really did start to sound cold. He deserved that.

"I'm not because there's no subject to change," Jonathan said. How was he the one could be so calm? "I was busy."

I went to say something to him, but I had the right moment to see the look in his eyes. He couldn't tell me that truth because he had realized that truth could be incredibly danger for the unfortunate in his life. I could clearly see he was trying to protect me in his own way.

I looked away from him, feeling my cheeks became a little warmer. Why would I had to blame him for something he couldn't help? He had me look up at him, and I could tell he was pretty understanding over how upset I had seemed to be. That was always the way it was when I was around Jonathan.

He may have been a little bit more understanding over how upset I was, but he could never have innately known why I was upset. Jonathan could never have been like Damian.

* * *

I had to spend most of what little free time I had to study those pages that Fritz had really work to get to me. Father had wanted me to work to authenticate the source of those images before we would ever act on that kind of a type. I think he could not believe that what they had spoken about could even be true.

Farfetched would have been an understatement.

Kent was right when he remarked it had spoken about what could have been described as a "Final Crisis."

If that book was real, then the universe it had described was far stranger that even the people who knew aliens or magicians so well. There were beings out there with absolute power and strength, and they would have been worshipped as gods by lesser beings. Because they were sentient beings, there were good and evil beings, and they were in a constant struggle for supremacy, one always trying to get the better of the other.

There came a period of time when those two sides, sick of the constant war and fighting, created a peace treaty where the two rulers had swapped their first born sons as a sign of goodwill for both sides. The son of the evil being was trained and taught by the good being, and he had made a promise to protect innocent beings from the darkness that was his father.

He was called the Dog of War, and if the Dog of war was killed, the the whole universe would fall.

I shook my head. That story would have been pretty difficult to believe if it had not described the signs of the Darkness, trying to become strong once more.

It made me shudder, and I started to realize I was thinking far too much like Fritz. She was the only one who could be pretty spiritual, never me.

That dark being needed followers to be strong, and the fact that the Omega Symbol could be seen all around the world and appearing at such high frequencies meant he was getting stronger.

It really could be a final crisis.


	38. Chapter 38

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

After I had made that realization about the Dog of War, that Omega symbol had stopped appearing all over the world. Perhaps that Dog of War had been doing his duty in keeping away that darkness. There were some within the Titans who were lulled into a false sense of security because that symbol was nowhere to be found and nothing had happened.

Only Kent and I were concerned by what was and was not happening in the world around us.

Kent came back to the room as I had worked on studying the different pages of that old book that Fritz had somehow gotten a hold of. How she had gotten pictures of that old book was still a mystery to me. I could tell he was not focusing on those pages. He was worrying about something else entirely.

"What is distracting you, Kent?" I could not believe I was asking him something like that. I had spent far too much time with Fritz. It was probably the closest I had to ever sound concerned for another person who was not Fritz.

"Do you think Baby knows?" Kent asked me. "About. . .me being Superboy?"

"What makes you think that?" I was not happy with myself for asking him that question even when I had a better idea.

"The cape," he said. "She gave it back to me. And, she's been demanding me to tell her the truth." He grimaced. "Demanding in her own way."

I looked at him for a moment, and I was not sure if he was not joking. Kent did not need to ask me for help about Fritz.

"You have known me for several years," I remarked to him. "During that time, have you ever saw me give anyone relationship advice?"

I had to really work to keep my emotions under control. What he had said to me should never have been the case. They were in the middle of a romantic relationship. Of all the people who knew Fritz, Kent should have been one of the few who knew her the best. I had narrowed my eyes at him, not happy about he had said to me.

I thought Fritz deserved better, if what Kent had admitted me to be the truth.

Kent looked back at me, and for a moment, he was not sure what to make of my sudden black that was directed mostly at him. He gave me a curious look before he quickly shook his head.

"Sorry I asked," he quickly said, and he quickly looked at the pictures of that book like nothing had happened to discuss the little of what we knew about those pictures.

It was going to be pretty difficult for the two of use to even focus on that changing world around us.

* * *

I was working at the pool one cool and rainy day, and all of the lifeguards were so glad there were not kids at the pool that day. They were doing whatever in the guard house until they could leave the pool without getting yelled at by anyone in the community.

Ever since I was attacked at the pool, I had seen less and less of Damian, and there was a part of me, a very small part of me, that was not happy about that. I wanted to speak to him, but he was never there or very difficult to get a hold of. That had made me feel disappointed in him. There should have been an excuse for something like that which he did not have.

Jonathan had appeared that afternoon, surprising me completely. I was quickly on my feet and walked over to him to give him a hug. I gave him a small smile when he had lightly kissed my cheek, and whatever disappointment I had been feeling was long gone when I saw him.

"Hey, Jon," I said quietly to him.

"Hey," he said to me. "How's it been?"

I almost smiled at him. "Wet. It hasn't stopped raining those past couple weeks."

"Looks like it," he said to me. "Ahoy?"

I snorted a little at that. We had the same awkward sense of humor. Things like that would always happen between the two of us. It was never like that between me and Damian because he had never once smiled let alone laughed at anything. Still. . .

Not too long after he had arrived, we were able to close the pool for that day. Jonathan and I were walking together, not caring about the pouring rain, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked. We were talking with each other, and I was willing to forget he was keeping something from me. It was just the two of us in the world.

We stopped walking and looked at each other. I could clearly see he was willing to tell me something pretty important, but he had to stop himself. He had to quickly shake his head. I pressed my lips together to keep myself from saying anything I would have regretted.

"It's okay, Jon," I quietly said to him. "It's okay."

He had seemed to be pretty relieved about that sort of thing, and he pulled me into a deep kiss in the pouring rain before he held me closely to him.


	39. Chapter 39

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I had made a point of rarely ever speaking to Fritz for most of that end of the summer. A part of me felt vindictive enough to want to keep her at arm's length from me, more out of respect for Kent than anything I was feeling.

She had tried to text me a few times every day that whole part of the summer, and she was becoming even more upset with each text message. Fritz had never sounded like that before, and I was starting to see it as pretty upsetting for myself. It was pretty clear that I did not want to hurt her in any way, and it was starting to become pretty distracting for me.

I was having issues concentrating on my work as Robin, and my training sessions were starting to become much less than they had been or should have been. It was starting to become very irritating for me.

Grayson had pulled me aside after another abysmal training session, and he actually looked pretty concerned for me. A complete change had come over me, and they were concerned for me because of that.

"Are you okay, Little D?" He asked me, wearing a slight frown of worry for me.

I did not even bother to correct him for calling me by that ridiculous nickname. There was no point. I had felt no need to do that kind of thing anymore at that point, which seemed to have made him even more concerned for me.

"I have a lot on my mind, Grayson," I told him.

He quirked up an eyebrow at me, clearly unconvinced by anything I would ever say to him. He could see through my act, which was another thing that should never have happened.

"You're pretty good at compartmentalization,"Grayson said to me. "Even during stressful moments of your life. What's wrong?"

I went to say something, but I quickly shook my head. I did not need anyone's help when it came to dealing with my life, especially from Grayson.

"You're having girl trouble," he said to me. "I can tell."

I narrowed my eyes at him to show him how irritated I had been at him. It was to keep him from making anything worse for me. I knew what I was doing.

"You should probably talk to her, soon," Grayson had warned me. "Or, she would speak to you whether you would like it or not. You know she won't allow you to wallow and brood on your own."

That was something she would do, and I am surprised she had not done that as yet.

* * *

I set my phone on the table next to me and made a disgusted sound. Jonathan had been watching me with some concern.

"What's wrong?" He asked me, sitting in front of me to grab my hands between both of his.

"Damian won't talk to me," I said to him

He was one of the few people who could understand our friendship, and because of that, he had never felt threatened by our friendship. For some reason, he was actually encouraging our friendship, understanding it was a pretty good thing for Damian.

"He gets like that sometimes," Jonathan had said to me, and he was thinking about something else at that moment.

"Yeah," I said to him, feeling a little irritated at Damian. "I hate it when he does that."

"He can't help it," Jonathan said.

He understood my friendship with Damian, and he was trying to get me to understand what could be going on with Damian to not blame him. There was still some things Jonathan would hold back from me, not making me ever feel happy about that. It was bad enough he was keeping something pretty big about himself from me, but he was helping Damian keep his own secrets. That did not help me not be as irritated as before. I narrowed my eyes at him to show him I wasn't happy with what he was doing.

Jonathan could understand why I was a little upset with him. he could tell I was never happy with anything he would do to work to keep everything a secret. It should've been pretty obvious to him.

"I'm sorry. . ." He was saying when I had pulled my hands back from him.

"I know," I quietly said to him, and i shook my head at him. If he understood me so well, he would not have repeated any of Damian's lies or excuses.

He went to say something to me, but he stopped himself and pressed his lips together. "I'll talk to him for you."

Jonathan had reached out to one of my hands and gently squeezed it. I couldn't stay upset with him for that very long, but I could only think about all of those secrets I knew he was keeping from me. It should have been telling he was willing to fix my friendship with Damian than tell me the full truth about him and whatever connection he had to Superboy.

He really should have realized that. A part of me had wished had made that same realization sooner rather than later.


	40. Chapter 40

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was looking through those images that Fritz had sent to us, and that was something that I saw as the better excuse to not speak to Fritz. No one would ever think it was that bad, knowing that I would do something like that no matter what would happen. Fritz could still be pretty stubborn, so she could not understand the concept of not trying to get me to talk to her when I did not want to speak to her.

Kent came into the room, and I could tell he was not that happy in that moment. I decided not to really outwardly care about whatever he was thinking about or worrying about.

"I have not been able to learn more about what was in that book," I was able to admit to Kent. "The identity of the Dog of War is still unknown."

"Something tells me won't know until it would happen," Kent said. "It sounds very familiar to me for some reason. . ." Kent shook his head. I could tell he wanted to talk about something else entirely and completely different. It was that obvious to me. "I saw Baby recently."

I looked at him, and I had looked back at Kent. He may have been lucky to have her in his life, and I did not need to constantly reminded of that fact.

Kent had seemed to be pretty concerned about her. I had wanted that to be the case for the two of them. It had needed to be that way for them. She deserved something like that.

"Of course," I had to quickly say to him. He should not know about what I was thinking about. That could cause problems within the Titans. Maybe even more problems than my being with a group who did not particularly like me.

"She's pretty upset with you," Kent said.

He was saying that, and he should say something like that. Kent should care about what Fritz was feeling. I am not sure why he would have cared about how our friendship could ever be like. Normal people would have been more worried about their own relationships. Nothing about their current friendships. It should have been pretty telling for all of us.

"I do not have the time to speak to her," I quickly told him. He should not to ask for any kind of an explanation beyond that from me.

If he really knew, he would have said that I always made time for Fritz. Always. Fritz was that type of person for me.

"It doesn't take too long to answer a text message," Kent replied. "And you know that."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but there was nothing I could say. I didn't want to get between Fritz and Kent. It was out of respect for him, and I knew she had to be happy with him for whatever reason. It could not have been for his keen observation skills.

Kent did not fully understand my reaction, which was probably a good thing at the time. He probably thought I had gotten so absorbed with my work for the Titans which had happened before on different occasions. Being so absorbed with our work is a characteristic of my father, Drake, and Grayson.

My phone was going off, and the two of us looked at it. Fritz had been trying to call me. I wanted to reach to the phone to speak to her, but I had to stop myself, doing my best to keep that unspoken promise I had made for myself with regards to her and her happiness. The phone had stopped ringing, and I could guess she was not happy in way with me.

Kent shook his head at me. "She really values your friendship, so this really bothers her."

He had to leave the room, and I really had to think about what had been said to me. There was a reason why I was so upset with what was going on around me in my life. She was not there with me to be that kind of bright spot within my life.

It should have been a no-brainer.

* * *

I was grabbing some of the pool stuff when it had closed for a couple of hours that afternoon before it would be reopened for that night. One of the other guards had started her private lesson with a young child. She lightly wave to me when she saw me to back to my bike to leave the pool, and I waved back at her as I had made a face at her.

"You are lucky it is pretty warm out," I heard Damian's voice say to me. "You would be stuck with that expression, and I am pretty sure it would be an improvement."

I looked back at him, and I almost smiled at him. It was like no time had passed since we last saw and spoke to each other.

He, as always, wore expensive-looking clothing that had no way made him comfortable, not that he ever really cared for comfort. There was no reason how he would be able to handle all of that pretty well like it was not an issue for him. I don't know how he was able to do something like that or where he was able to learn something like that.

Damian was very close to smiling over what he had said to me. Add that to the way he had said it, and it would have let me know he was as close to joking around with me. That was why I knew he was not outright trying to insult me in any way.

"Hey there, Stranger," I said to him. I was a little irritated with him, but I was still pretty happy to see him. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He gave me a surprised look like he did not expect that from me. There was also that very mysterious look in his eyes that had given me a very fluttery stomach, but I had ignored it to be able to walk and talk with him.

That was what I had needed at that time, and I could tell he had needed it as well.


	41. Chapter 41

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Summer had ended, and I was stuck going to Gotham Academy. I realized i needed to wear a uniform, which was something that had went against everything I believed in. I hated uniforms and conformity.

Jonathan was at the house as my mom was helping me fit into the school uniform by pinning where she would need to sew. I made a face at him which had made him start to laugh a little over my reaction.

"It can't be that bad," he said to me. He was the type of person who could be that optimistic, and that was a pretty good thing.

"You're only saying to make me feel better," I quickly said to him. "Senior year at a school I was told not to like."

"We didn't tell you to hate that school," Mom said to me before I had to leave the room to change out of the uniform. "Be careful with the pins, Baby."

When I was back in my more comfortable and not school uniform clothing, JOnathan and I were going to walk around that part of the neighborhood together to be able to talk and spend some time together before school would start for that year. Jonathan had his arm wrapped around my shoulders as we walked. There was a lot of smiling and laughter shared between us.

Then, Jonathan had to suddenly stop walking when he saw what a group of teenagers had been doing. They were spray-painting that infamous Omega Symbol, but there was something about the way they were moving and speaking with each other that had seemed to be pretty off. They were almost sinister.

Jonathan actually pulled me behind him like he had felt the need to protect me from whatever they could do to us.

"We should probably go," he said to me, but he was more distant like he had been thinking about something else entirely.

"But. . ." I went to say, but I had realized he was not going to tell me anything.

"Not now, Baby," he said to me, and we had to quickly walk away from there. "Never."

He was trying to get me to go away from there. Protective as always. It would've been pretty annoying to me, but I could see why that would've been the case.

"Never. . ." I said, shaking my head at him. He would really need to work on that.

That darkness had started to spread beyond the crimes and violence of the people from the cities like Gotham. Even people who normally would not have been susceptible to that kind of darkness was falling under its power.

It showed that someone needed to do some. That was why there was that old book. It was the collection of knowledge that would allow people to find a way to sop that spreading darkness.

We were back at my house, and I was looking up at him. I really had to work to keep myself from being so upset with him.

"You're never going to tell me," I remarked. Okay. . .maybe I did start to sound upset with him.

"No," he said, and it was the closest he had ever came to very close to admitting to it all. "It's too dangerous for you to get involved."

"It's my world, too."

"And, I want you to stay in it."

* * *

I had to look through those reports of what had been happening all over the world. That Omega Symbol had been seen in more places than ever before. The violence was starting to become even more pronounced and more out of control, and it had made me wonder if maybe it was connected to that Omega Symbol.

Those book pages Fritz had somehow gotten a hold of spoke of that kind of connection. The Omega Symbol was connected to the darkness of the world. It was described as a being desperate to control the power and as many souls as possible.

Kent answer his phone, and he was listen to some horrible news on the other end. When it had ended, Kent had finally looked at me.

"A body was found. . ." Kent said, getting ready to leave. "He's barely conscious. . .and wants to speak to the League."

"Then, where are you going?" I asked him, but I did put my mask on as I had followed him. "We are not the League."

"No one else can get to him," he said to me.

We walked to the scene where the Metropolis Police Commissioner, Daniel Turpin, had been waiting beside the body of what looked to be an injured man. He had been shot in the stomach and though there was little blood, he did not look too well.

"Never thought I'd see more than one Kryptonian in my lifetime," he could barely say. I could tell he had once possessed a strong and powerful voice, but as he had started to die, his voice was barely over a whisper no matter what he would do otherwise.

Kent, being so much like his father, knelt next to the man, and he went to press his hand on his stomach. The man brushed aside his hands.

"It was a radion bullet," he said. "Too late for me. No matter what you would try to do." He had to take that moment to breathe. His breathing was pretty rugged and very full of blood. "I am Orion, the Dog of War. . .the only being who can keep my father from controlling the whole universe. . .he shot me. . ."

"Dog of War. . ." I quietly said to myself. It was starting to happen.

"Fight. . ." Orion, the Dog of War, had told the two of us before breaking down into painful sounding and bloody coughs. "Fight to live. . ."

Kent had checked his pulse before grimly closing his eyes and fold his hands across his chest. He was quietly showing him some respect in the moment of his death.

It would be very bad indeed to watch our only protector and guardian die.

That was when _The Daily Planet_ blew up.


	42. Chapter 42

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was in Metropolis at the hospital almost as soon as I heard about what had happened to _The Daily Planet_. Jonathan's parents had worked there, and I knew he would have wanted me to be there at his side as he would have to deal with those moments during the hospital stay and rescue times. He would have needed me there at his side for any kind of support.

Oddly enough, before I left, my mom had given me this strange necklace with that design I had found in that old book at my grandparents' home. I looked at if for a moment before looking up at my mother, giving her a confused look over what had been placed in my hands.

"Why?" I asked her, putting on that necklace as I was trying to figure out what the meaning behind that necklace.

"Your grandmother believed it would be important for you," she told me. There was something she was not telling me.

That old book made that symbol seem to be pretty important in whatever kind of dark times that could be coming.

"She just wanted you to have the old necklace," Mom said to me. "Nothing more than that. You know her. . .she never liked explaining herself when she's giving her edicts."

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. There's more to it than that, and even my mom knew I could see through it. That still did not mean she was going to explain it all to me.

As I had walked into the hospital, I could see it was full of chaos because of the explosion at _The Daily Planet_. In the background, I could see Jonathan's father pacing around, constantly running a hand through his hair with a shaking hand. He was alright physically, but it was pretty clear he was upset. I walked over to him, and the closer I got, the easier it was for me to see Jonathan sitting off to the side with his face in his hands.

I went to sit next to him, and I lightly touched his arm. Jonathan looked up at me, and I could see all of the emotion he was dealing with in his eyes. I could feel for him, and my heart ached for him. Jonathan had been looking at me for that moment, and he lightly squeezed my hand as he went to look away from me.

"My mom got caught in it," he said to me. "She's in surgery, and they don't think. . ."

He did not want to speak more about that, but I knew what he had been talking about. No one was sure if his mother would get out of surgery alive, let alone be fine in the long run. It made sense why the air around Jonathan and his father was so tense.

We sat together for the longest time, and I was actually quietly praying for a better outcome. That was something I had rarely had the need to do in the past. Jonathan made sure to keep a hold of my hand during that moment. We were silent, but that was not what he had needed. He just needed me there with him for some kind of support.

A doctor come out of surgery. He looked exhausted, and the longer I had looked at him the more. . .off he had seemed to be. I didn't know why, but the exhaustion was making him seem more sinister. The doctor spoke with Jonathan's father, and though he was far enough away, I could guess what they were talking about based on how his father was reacting. His shoulders had slightly slumped, and he had started to wear a more grave expression on his face. Though she may have survived surgery, there was a very strong chance she was not going to survive for too long.

Jonathan knew what they had been talking about, and he closed his eyes and placed his face in his hands. That had really upset him, and there was very little he could do in that moment to help his mother in any kind of way. I reached over to him to wrap an arm around his shoulders, trying to help him in some way.

I started to wonder, curious to see if that doctor was the only case of the mysterious reaction of the sinister-ness. Maybe it was a strange and isolated incident for a solitary individual who was probably unfit to deal with concerned family members. I started to pay attention to the nurses more to figure it all out. They would really show what could or could not be happening.

Those nurses were the same as that doctor. They had this sort of sinister and eerie loss of will and were only going through the motions of their tasks. It was not helping the people too well, not that they were caring too much about that. One of the nurses eyes had seemed to be very dark and almost soulless, and they only became worse when she had went to look at her phone screen.

I went to look at my phone, as well, wondering why that had even started to happen. There had been that Omega Symbol that had been seen all across the world, and when it came up on my phone, I had started to get this insane headache as it was trying to take control of me.

But. . .it didn't work. I took off that necklace and looked at the symbol on the pendant, and the headache had started to go away completely. That may have been why my grandma insisted I take that necklace, if she was the one who owned that old book.

Those two symbols had some kind of power to them, and they were going to have some kind of effect on the world at large.


	43. Chapter 43

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I turned around to go back to the hospital room where Jonathan and his father stayed with his mother. If that symbol affected any one of them, I knew it was not going to be a good thing. It wasn't going to end well, that much I could tell, even if they weren't going to confirm it for me.

They were sitting by her bed, and they had that look of utter hopelessness that would be a sign they were under the influence of that Omega Symbol. I made some kind of noise as I walked into the room, and that was enough for them to look up at me. They had seemed to be mildly irritated over that, but I didn't care.

I walked up to them, and I showed them the symbol on the pendant of my necklace. A change came over them. That utter hopelessness had started to disappear, and it had been replaced with some kind of hope, a brightness. They had started to change, and Jonathan had looked down at his mother. She had started to stabilize in that moment.

Jonathan had started to quietly speak to his father. I didn't know exactly what they were saying, but I could get the general idea of what they were talking about. They were somehow going to deal with what was going on around the world in some way. His father left the room, and Jonathan stayed by his mother's side, holding her hand and only looking at her.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him.

He could only look at his mother, and he wore a very focused look of concentration, nothing could ever break that kind of concentration. "My mother needs me right now. It's the only way. . .to keep her alive. . ." That was the closest he ever came to admitting the full truth to me. "You know what you need to do. . ."

I pressed my lips together and closed my hand around the pendant. Jonathan was right. I did know what I needed to do. I put the necklace around my neck and went to lightly kiss his cheek, but he would not respond, still focusing on his mother.

I quickly left the hospital, carrying my laptop bag. My head was down and hair completely covering my face as I had walked. No one paid attention to me as I had walked. They were slowly being consumed by that dark and hopeless feeling. I turned a corner and actually ran into Damian.

He wore that empty look, and. . .it was not Damian. Not even close. Colder. I would have guessed. . .he was a killer. Damian grabbed one of my arms with a grip that was much too strong to be considered a good thing, and i had started to grimace from that pain. No reaction.

"You are not complying," he said to me in a cold and empty voice. He really did not sound like himself.

I felt a shiver run up my spine, knowing there was nothing right about it.

"Since when do I ever conform?" I asked him.

My free hand went to my necklace, and he could clearly see the symbolon the pendant. The hopelessness and darkness that had mixed with something else that made him look like a killer left his eyes. He looked at me for a moment, trying to understand what had happened.

Damian shook his head and took a quick step back from me. "Did I hurt you?"

I shook my head, ignoring how much my arm had started to hurt. "No. Of course not."

He gave me a close look, seeing through my lie. For a brief moment, I could see that he had been conflicting over what he had done to me. "You have never been that good at lying."

Damian reached out to look at my necklace, studying the symbol that was on it. For some reason, I thought he was able to recognize it. He looked straight in the eyes.

"Where did you get that?" He asked me. He knew that necklace was behind his change, but there was something more to it than that. He clearly saw the importance of it.

"My grandma wanted me to have it," I admitted. I gave him a close look, wondering about something about him. How would he have known so much about that? "I think she had an idea about what was going to happen all over the world."

Damian was silent for a moment as he thought about what I had said to him. He quickly looked around and pulled me to him as he walked back into the dark all as those poor, mindless souls walked by on the streets.

"Where did that symbol come from?" He asked me.

"Anything with a screen," I told him, showing him my phone, so he could be able to see what I was talking about.

He almost flinched away from my phone, expecting the symbol would affect him in any way again. "Would it affect me again?"

"I don't think so," I told him, pocketing my phone as I sent to sit against the wall and pulled out my laptop. I was not going to think about how gross the alleyway could be for me.

Damian looked around, and he went to sit next to me, watching me as I started to play around on my computer.

"Is now really the time for this?" He asked me, giving me a look. He was worried about me, though.

"You remember that one time when you basically told me never hack into computers again?" I asked him, and he nodded. "Never really listened. I'm going to use it to free everyone all around the world."

He went to say something, but all he could do was look at me for a moment, almost smiling. That was something he should have expected from me. I looked back at him, pausing for a moment.

"What?" I had asked him, quirking up an eyebrow at him. Was he really going to look for an argument? At that moment? And, he was giving me a hard time about using my laptop.

He quickly shook his head to look away from me. "Nothing."


	44. Chapter 44

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

There were many things that had happened since that symbol appeared everywhere around the world at once. I would only learn in the weeks following that even that symbol was the complete Anti-Life Equation. The Anti-Life Equation would allow the owner to have complete control over not only the minds and bodies of a whole population of people but also their souls.

The whole of the population of Earth had been under that control.

Most of the information I was able to get from the copied pages from the old book Fritz had somehow been able to get a hold of. It was pretty clear the book had once been compiled, at least in part, to deal with that sort of even if it would happen. There was so much more about those events in that book.

It described how the completed Anti-Life Equation would be able to have its owner have complete control over whole populations by taking a hold of their souls. The more people the owner had in his control, the more powerful they would become. For obvious reason there would be a need to keep that power hidden away forever.

I could feel myself be locked away in my own mind as the symbol took control over me. It was difficult for me. My pride would not allow me to be controlled by anyone. It bothered me, and there was nothing I could do to put an end to that sort of thing.

I remembered finding Fritz, and even in my zombie state, I could see she was not acting as deadened as everyone else. The part of me that was being controlled could not allow that to ever happen, and I actually felt outraged. The small part of my mind I could still control was both relieved and slightly pleased over her being herself. Nobody could tell Fritz what she could or could not do.

I walked over to Fritz, and we walked into each other. Fritz had looked up at me, wearing a questioning look as she had started to see him look and act like everyone else. There was starting to be fear that had filled her eyes the longer I had looked at her. I did not need to wonder what she was seeing. She saw a killer. I did not like the look she had been giving me.

My hands gripped her upper arms to keep her from running away from me. when I gripped her arms, she had actually grimaced at me. The small part I could control was horrified at what I was being forced to do to her. I would never have hurt Fritz. No matter how ridiculous and irritating she could be to me.

"You are not complying. . ." My voice said to her. It was cold and emotionless. Not something I would use on her. Never.

She was trying not to show how uncomfortable and afraid she must have been feeling. "Since when do I ever conform?"

That was when one of her hands went to the old necklace she had been wearing under her shirt, and she had showed me the pendant of her necklace. The moment I saw the symbol on the pendant, a warmth started to go through me as i had started to regain control of myself.

I looked at her, trying to understand what had happened. I shook my head as I took a step back from her.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked her when I finally had the full control over myself.

I looked at her when I asked her the question. Fritz's eyes did show her confusion, and she really had to work to keep herself from showing me she had been afraid of me and had been hurt by me. When she had realized I was myself, she looked relieved, and the fear was long gone. I do not know how she would do that, allowing herself to ignore that sort of thing.

Fritz shook her head. "No. Of course not."

I looked at her, and I knew she had been lying to me. "You have never been good at lying."

That was when I had reached out to look at her necklace. The longer i had looked at the symbol, the better I was able to recognize it. That symbol was everywhere in that old book, and like the book, Fritz had somehow been able to possess it. That symbol would have canceled out the Anti-Life Equation.

"Where did you get that?" I asked her.

She studied me for a moment, being able to understand I may have known more about that symbol than I would ever say to her.

"My grandma wanted me to have it," she admitted. "I think she had an idea about what was going to happen all over the world."

Just as there were people on Earth who worked for the interests of Darkseid, there were those who worked for the interests of his greatest adversaries from New Genesis, though they primarily kept to the shadows. No one really knew who the New Genesis allies were.

I looked around us before I pulled her closer to me as we walked back into the dark alley as some people started to walk by on the streets. For a moment, I became keenly aware of how close we had been, so I had to push her away from me.

"It was anything with a screen," she started to say like she had been planning something, and she pulled out her cellphone to show me the Anti-Life Equation.

I almost flinched away from the phone like it would affect me again, but my training had kept that from happening. We realized it would not affect me again.

Fritz went to sit on the ground as she started to pull out her laptop. I looked around us as I went to sit closely to her, and I watched her play around on the computer.

"Is now really the time for this?" I asked her.

We were sitting very close to each other, and I could smell the light flowery scent coming from her long hair. For that moment, I had to close my eyes to make myself clear my head, so I could focus on the work ahead and not only on her.

"You remember that one time where you basically told me to never hack into computers again?" She asked me. I nodded. "Never really listened. I'm going to use it to free everyone all around the world."

I was going to say something to her, but I had to stop myself. I should not have been surprised. If she possessed a way to free the people and had the means to do so, then she would do it. That was in her nature.

She realized I had been looking at her very closely, and she made eye contact with me, curious about my reaction.

"What?" She asked me.

I shook my head and went to look away from her. "Nothing."

Fritz had started on her work to send her own symbol to the world. When it was done, there was going to be a wait as the people would be able to see that symbol. She went to rest her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I wrapped my arm around her waist to pull her close to me.


	45. Chapter 45

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Me and Damian were sitting in the alley, playing the whole waiting game to see the work of that one symbol being spread throughout the whole world. I was always the type of person who hated being forced to wait for anything, so I had to force myself to be more patient. At least Damian was going to stay by my side as all of that had been happening.

I went to rest my head on his shoulder and had started to close my eyes. For that moment, I could tell he had to let out a deep breath at my contact before he carefully wrapped an arm around me waist to pull a little closer to him. Strangely, that was very natural and very secure for me. It all felt right.

I could hear commotion around us as there were people who were becoming the way the had once been, and the people who had been under control of that symbol had started to clash with them. Damian could hear everything that was happening, and he had sat straight up.

"I feel like we should be doing something," he had quietly said to me, and he was looking down at me as I had looked up at him. "To help them. . ."

"You're right," I said to him, and I held out my hand to him.

He looked at the outstretched hand looking at me. "That was too easy. Since when do you agree with me?"

Damian took my hand as I helped him to his feet. We were still holding each other's hands as I looked back at him as I had been thinking.

"Since I agree with you," I told him before I started to walk towards the street, leaving him behind to only stare at me.

"Maybe you should. . ." He was trying to say to me, trying to keep up with me. "Plan something. . ."

"I am. . ." I said to him, trying not to show how annoyed I was with him.

I started to hold up my phone, showing there was still that symbol from my necklace on it, and the people around me were able to understand their phones could help out as well. Everyone who was not under the control of that first symbol had pulled out their phones or tablets, and they had started to show my symbol to the zombie-like people.

I looked over to see Damian watching me lead that sort of charge, and he had been wearing that one strange and mysterious expression on his face before he, too, had started to pull out his cell phone to show that symbol to the effected people. I had to shake my head at that like I was trying to brush that away out of my head. It should not have bothered me, but it did. Or maybe not. I couldn't really figure out what to make of that one expression. Either way, that was not the right time to worry about that.

We were showing people that symbol, and the effected around us regained the control over themselves. The air around us within the city had completely changed. Freedom could be incredibly intoxicating, especially when you were under the control of someone else.

Damian was at my side, looking around us and closely observing everyone and everything with the eye of a young man who would have been able to see and understand what was happening.

That was something pretty big had happened, and I would never forget what I saw that one day.

There was this loud sound that had filled the air. It shook everything around us.

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

Everyone had stopped what they were doing to see what had suddenly and loudly appeared. A giant man with fiery and steely eyes had appeared out of some kind of a portal. There was something about him that had made my blood start to run cold. I could feel the power coming from him. Even more so than I was around Jonathan or his father, but I could feel what it was like to be around a god. He could cause so much chaos and destruction just by waving a hand.

The moment he had appeared, Damian stood protectively by my side, glaring up at the being who had suddenly appeared. I was starting to realize that he was what that old book spoke about. He was that horrible darkness it described with great fear.

"Where had that symbol come from?" The being bellowed at the crowd.

He instantly recognized my symbol, and he was mostly unhappy by its sudden appearance. He probably recognized it for what it was, so there was probably a very, very small part of him that was fearful of the people who had kept that knowledge around for so long.

No one answered him. Not out of defiance or bravery. No one really knew the correct answer for that one question. They knew that symbol could have come from anywhere and from anyone from around the world. To them, that symbol had appeared out of nowhere.

He was not amused over the silence. Of course, he probably took that to mean defiance. That man had ego enough to be offended by anything and everything that would not allow him to have his own way. His eyes became narrowed as he looked down at all of us.

We were nothing but insects to him.

I shuddered. For some reason, I knew that would not have been a good thing. That kind of feeling was almost instinctual. Even though it had been a long time since he was last there, that primal feeling was still there.

Damian actually pulled me closer to him as he went to stand between me and the threatening man like he could be my human shield, if he had to be. He looked down at me as we were accepting what could happen.

Our eyes locked, and he had been wearing most of some strong emotions I knew he had never been able to say to me. He made those emotions disappear, and he carefully held me to him, expecting something to happen.

That was when the Justice League had appeared. They were going to save the world. . .


	46. Chapter 46

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

All of the members of the League had appeared to face Darkseid, and leading all were Father, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Fritz had refused to move as she had been more transfixed by the scene and the battle that was starting to happen. Her eyes had widened as she had looked around her. Of course, in the exact moment her life would be in complete danger, Fritz would be stubborn in not leaving her spot to see everything happening around her. I was surprised she had been able to survive in the world if she would act like that.

That was when I had to wrap an arm around her shoulders to pull her to me to have her walk with me. "We should go to safety."

I said it in a way that would have not been heard by the people around us. Fritz had went to look up at me, narrowing her eyes at me. She was not happy when I was trying to tell her what she could and could not do. That was typical when she was that upset, and it would have been pretty difficult for anyone to want to deal with telling her what to do.

"Why?" Fritz asked, and she was working to keep me from having start to walk with me.

"Look around you, Fritz," I had to say to her. That was when I gestured around us with my free hand. I wanted her to understand and keep herself from being so stubborn.

There was an army of Darkseid's Parademons all around us, and they were so close to fighting off the member of the League. The people who had been freed were already gone, understanding better of the battle to happen than Fritz had.

"Does this seem like a good idea for you to be in the middle of?" I asked her. She needed to understand the enormity of the situation.

She was still going to argue with me, but I was still able to have her walk with me. My arm was still wrapped around her shoulders, and she was close to me as we had walked to some place that was safer than out in the middle of the battle. She was still mad at having to follow my orders, but she was still able to understand what was happening. That was a plus.

There were some Parademons who had started to chase us, and I took a gently hold of one of her hands to start to run as we were being chased by them. It had went against my life-time of training. I was taught to fight as a proper warrior and conqueror. Running away was for cowards, and through my one blood, I was not a coward. The complete opposite, in fact.

That moment had to be different. I had Fritz I needed to think about, and her safety was the most important thing for me. She needed to be safe, and that was all I was going to focus on for that moment. My training worked only when I became a warrior or a conqueror, more for being a solitary, but she was there with me. I had to take care of herself. Not myself.

I felt I was braver and stronger as I tried to keep Fritz safe.

The Parademons had been flying around us, and one landed on the ground close to us, forcing us to stop running. I went to hold Fritz a little closer to me to hopefully protect her in any way that I could. She had paused for a moment and closed her eyes as she had buried her face into my chest. I paused for a moment, having to take a deep breath when I felt her do that, and it was a good thing she had not noticed that to happen. I held her closer to me, and I went to be between her and the Parademons. Her shield.

Fritz was not going to allow that to happen, and she went to push away from me. She was willing to deal with the Parademon herself despite not having any kind of fighting skills.

"What are you doing?" I demanded of her. She really was crazy and had no care for her own personal safety.

"If I'm going down," Fritz said, breaking into one of the closest cars. "I'm going down while fighting. . ."

She climbed into the car, and she was able to start it to drive into the Parademon. When it crashed into the Parademon, Fritz quickly got out of the car to grab the fallen Parademon's weapon, but she did not possess the strength to be able to carry it.

I walked over to her, and I gently gripped her wrists to get her to let go of the weapon. Fritz had to look up at me.

It was hard not to be impressed by the amount of stubborn strength she had possessed. She may not have had the strength or training to be a warrior, but it was hard not see she had possessed a warrior's spirit. There was nothing I could say to her for the moment, and for once, she was just as quiet. She quickly shook her head.

"I need to do something. . ." She said to me. "I can't just stand by and watch as everything is falling apart. . ."

My hands went to gently grip her upper arms, and she had to look up at me. "You have done enough, Fritz. You were able to free so many people from his control. . ."

I let go of her, and I had gestured around us. She was able to see the people she had freed which meant she may have freed many of the League members. She saw how they were fighting back against Darkseid, and she saw how Darkseid had fallen.

"In fact. . ." I quietly said to her. "You have done more than enough. . ."

At my words, she went to hug me, and almost automatically, I pulled her into a hug, closing my eyes as I lightly breathed in the scent that came from her hair.


	47. Chapter 47

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Somehow, all of those otherworld creature disappeared. There was very little signs of their presence save for the wrecked cars and buildings. It was far too surreal for me to not see how close we had been to death and destruction. I think that may have been why I had really started to shake. All of the fear I should've been feeling had started to really affect me.

Damian had pulled me closer to him. "There is no need to worry. . ."

There was something about the way he was holding me and mixed with how he had been quietly speaking to me that had made me feel so much more safe and secure. I closed my eyes for a moment, practically living only the moment.

It was a good thing he was there with me in that moment. There was no need for me to continue to freak out about what had happened. Damian had seemed to be so confident and so sure of himself that it was able to make everything else seem to much better.

After a while, I pulled away from him, and he lowered his arms, understanding that was when I did not need to be held by him anymore.

"Are you okay?" He had asked me, looking at me with some concern. He kept his face expressionless, but I could tell he was still worrying about me.

"Am now," I quietly said to him, and I gave him a very small smile.

Damian actually appeared to be relieved over what I had said to him. No matter how hard he would work to keep his face expressionless, his eyes were able to show what he had been feeling.

That was when I took the chance to look around us. I wanted to be able to see the Justice League, so I started to walk away from Damian.

I was picking my way through the debris-covered streets, and I had to really work to keep my balance as I walked. There were several times when I could only stumble.

"What are you doing?" Damian had asked me, and he had to work to keep up with me. I think he was surprised he could not actually keep up with me.

"Just looking around me," I called over my shoulder at him as I had stumbled around.

"You can barely handle flat surfaces," Damian had said to me, but he was able to catch up with me.

I twisted my ankle and fell to the ground, and I swore to myself the moment I hit the ground. Damian was there by my side. He had gently checked my hands to make sure there was no glass in my scrapes. When he felt they were not that bad, he gently checked my twisted ankle. The moment I felt him touch the twisted ankle. I hissed in a breath. That hurt.

Damian quickly removed his hands, and he had been looking at me. He did feel bad about that. "Sorry. . ."

It was probably one of the few times I would ever hear him apologize out loud.

"It's fine," I quickly said to him. "Just hurts."

I tried to get to my feet, and Damian went to help me. He made sure to have most of my weight supported by him to keep me from hurting it too much.

"Do you think you can walk on it?" Damian asked me.

"Probably," I told him. "I can deal with it. . ."

We started to carefully walk to the hospital because I wanted to see how Jonathan and his mother were doing. Maybe to get some ice, if there was any left.

I could tell someone had been watching us closely, and I looked over my shoulder to see Batman looking at us for whatever reason.

* * *

Fritz was quietly speaking to Kent, and he had been close to her the whole time she was there. I made a point of giving them some privacy while making sure I was not looking at them.

I could not believe the thought that had went through my mind when I did watch them. I had wanted Fritz to look at me the way she had been looking at Kent, but the moment I realized what I had been thinking about went against what I had wanted for her. I respected her choice and decision, and she was clearly happy with Kent. That was all I had wanted for her.

Father came into the hospital, mildly creating a scene among the staff, but they quickly had to ignore him when they realized he was there for me. He walked towards me, and he went to sit next to me. Father did look at Kent and Fritz speaking with each other.

"Did not have your help," Father had commented, choosing his words carefully to make sure no one would know the truth about us, but they would be too busy to pay attention to us.

"I could not allow Fritz to be on her own," I said to him. "Not in the middle of all of that." Father had quirked up an eyebrow at me. "She would have gotten herself killed. You know how she is."

"Of course," Father had said in response, but I could tell he was not going to believe that. "Though. . .you staying with her would've been better than helping out."

That was the type of opinion I would have thought to be important. He noticed I had changed a little when I met Fritz, and he had thought it was a change for the better. Unlike my mother, Father thought the change would make me better and stronger than ever before.


	48. Chapter 48

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

It appeared to be over. The creatures were gone. That evil, large god-guy was long gone, though there was the brief thought that he would try to return again at some point in the future. Everything should have been going back to normal, but why was I so bother and worried about that kind of calm?

Jonathan was lightly touching my face to have me look up at him. Even though he had been so relieve that his mother was alright, I could see he was still so worried about something else, too.

"You okay?" He asked me, being able to tell that I was worried about something else at the moment.

"I'm fine," I said to him, but I did not sound too sure what I had mean by that.

Jonathan could see through how lighthearted I was trying to sound to him. He started to wear a frown of concentration as he looked at me, and he had seemed to becoming even more concerned for me. that was when he pulled me to be able to hold me closer to him.

"It's fine, now," Jonathan had said to me. "Everything would be fine, now."

I tried to deal with that and believe him, but I could still look out of the windows of the hospital. The skies were becoming a dark and stormy color, and thunder had started to boom around them.

"Then why do I have a bad feeling about that?" I asked Jonathan.

He went to say something, but he had nothing to really say to me from that moment on. There was nothing he could do to make me realize anything else, and he could not shake that kind of feeling, as well.

We both were looking out of the hospital windows, and it had started to rain. It would have been considered to be normal, but there was something about it that didn't seem right. I limped out of the hospital, and Jonathan quickly followed me to be able to be the support I needed not to put too much weight on the ankle that I had twisted earlier.

Damian and his father had seen what we were doing, and Damian was already on his feet.

"Of course," Damian had muttered. "Fritz would go out in this."

That made Jonathan stop to look back at him, and he gave Damian a close and thoughtful look.

I was still walking towards the door to the hospital, and I had to stop what I was doing when I had realized I had a feeling of complete horror. I wanted to throw up. That was worse than anything I would've thought could happen.

"Guys. . ." I said, causing them to look back at me. "It's raining blood. . ."

* * *

We realized there was more to what was happening than we had previously thought. Even though the Parademons were gone and the Anti-Life Equation having failed, Darkseid was still active. Still out there.

We had been lulled into a false sense of security.

That was too abrupt of an ending to be considered the "Final Crisis" it had been described in that book to be.

Fritz was right. It was raining blood.

Kent was quietly speaking to Fritz, and she had to look away from what had been happening outside to look up at him. She did not look happy over what he had done or said.

"You know, Jon," she had said to him. "I understand why you need to go, and you can tell me the whole truth."

Kent had looked at Fritz, and there was nothing he was going to do to tell her anything. That was why she had been so upset with him. She was clever enough to figure him out to be Superboy, and Kent knew. He still would not tell her the truth and confirm everything for her.

"Baby. . ." Jon had to say to her, and he gently gripped her upper arms to have her look up at him. "Don't make me. . ."

Fritz quickly took a step back away from him, and she had pushed away his hands from her. She had looked to be pretty mad at him. She said nothing to him before she walked away from him. Kent had been looking after her, wearing an expression that was upset with what had happening.

I walked over to him. "Word from the wise, making her that mad is never good for your health."

Kent closed his eyes and shook his head. "You know I can't tell her. She could get hurt, and I can't. . .live with that. . ."

"She already figured you out. . ." I said to Kent. "She wants you to tell her the truth. Not excuses a child could see through. . ."

"Then I don't have to tell her. . ." He said, but he realized it was the wrong thing to say about her. "They would not harm her. . ."

"They would still be after her since she's still connected to you," I told him, and I was annoyed for the sake of Fritz. "At least she would know what would be happening and why it would be happening."

With those words, I turned around to walk towards Fritz who was furiously looking through her phone, refusing to look up at us.

"What are you doing, Damian?" Kent asked me.

I looked over my shoulder. "Someone would need to keep her out of trouble."

Kent gave me a close look before he shook his head. He may have seen through my words. "Only reason?"

I narrowed my eyes back at him. That was dangerous territory for him to tread, and I was not going to talk to him about it. "Understand my words, Kent."

Kent was gone.

There was blood raining down from the sky. It was the beginning of the "Final Crisis."


	49. Chapter 49

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was mad at Jonathan. The world could end, and instead of telling me the truth, he was only giving me a stupid excuse to disappear to be Superboy. I couldn't be mad at him for not being with me during what could have been the end of the world, and I knew the world needed more than I needed him.

Jonathan should've known that, but he wasn't going to respect me enough to tell me everything.

I was getting pretty mad, so I needed to do something else before I would do something I would later regret.

There was something about the raining blood that had bothered me, and I should've known something about it that was important. It was in that old book. . .somewhere. When I took the pictures of each page of the book, I didn't really read them. Probably a big mistake. I realized I needed to look through those pictures to catch up on everything in that old book. There had to be something in it that would explain why that was so important.

Damian sat next to me, and i would barely acknowledge him. There had to be an answer somehow. He had to reach out to me, and he took the phone out of my hands. He had appeared to be thoughtful as he studied me for that moment.

"Restraint?" Damian asked me. "You?"

"I'm not mad," I told Damian. Well. . .I wasn't quite as mad as I had been. I wanted to think about something over what was happening in the whole world and why the blood-rain was happening.

I tried to turn away from him. I refused to even speak to him for any longer than I would've wanted to. I wanted to be left alone.

Damian wasn't going to allow that to be dropped so easily. He had tried that with me in the past, but I wasn't ever going to allow him to continue to keep that happening. It was only a matter of time before he would've used my same tricks.

"You were so close to screaming at Kent," Damian said to me. He knew me far too well, and sometimes that was far too annoying. "I know you are mad and very upset. You can talk to me, you know. . ."

That made me look at him, and I gave him a look. He wouldn't normally say something like that to me. That was the exact last thing he would've said to me. I was the one who would've said that to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes at him. "Because you never say anything like that. . ."

"I choose not to," Damian had said to me. "But, it would appear you would need it right now."

I looked back him, and I could tell he was sincere. That was all he was going to show me.

I let out a breath, and that was how I had started to tell him why I was so upset over what had happened between me and Jonathan. He listened to me, and he was trying to be the unbiased third party to get me to understand what could possibly have been going through his mind. Damian was friends with the two of us, but at the time, I was so upset. I didn't understand the kind of implication of that sort of thing.

Talking to him had helped me a lot, and it distracted me from what had been happening around us. At least for a little while. I made a decision about me and Jonathan.

It was something I should've realized a while ago.

Something had happened that made the two of us look out of the window. The dread that came from the blood rain and the complete darkness had started to go away from the world. The light had started to cut through the darkness as the blood rain had suddenly stopped.

All of creation started to ring with a song of jubilation, or something like that. Anyway, when the whole world sang, that black hole we didn't realize was there had been patched over and healed.

Something about that had made me and Damian hug each other, but we weren't the only ones who had felt the need to do that. All of the people around us had started to hug each other, even complete strangers.

After a while, me and Damian quickly pulled apart. We tried to make it seem like it wasn't as weird. We had hugged each other for whatever reason.

Damian quickly cleared his throat. "You cannot use this as an excuse not to speak about what is bothering you."

I made a face at him. "I made up my mind, and it's not as bad as I thought it would be."

Damian gave me a close look when I had said something like that. He was able to understand what I really meant by that.

"What do you mean by that?" Damian had asked me, but I shrugged.

For some reason, I didn't want him to know about it just yet. There was a part of me that didn't want him to talk me out of my decision for Jonathan's sake. That wasn't what I wanted to deal with at the moment.

Instead, I looked around us, and that was when I had realized something had been more different that I had realized before.

"Wasn't you dad here?" I asked him. I quickly looked at him. What could he be doing?

He had to work to keep his face expressionless, but he wasn't going to say so much detail about that. "He was. I am surprised you were able to realize that."

His voice had to be forced to be controlled like he was trying to keep me from asking him too many questioning.

"I pay attention to myself. . ." I told him. He gave me a look. "I do!"

"Tt," Damian snorted at me, sounding unconvinced, but he was goodnatured about that. "This would have been the first time that would have happened."

I lightly elbowed him in the side. "Yeah. . .whatever. . .I can notice things. . ."

"Never," Damian had replied.

I felt much better as we started to playfully tease each other the way we used to do when we were growing up. I guess that was what I had needed.


	50. Chapter 50

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Me and Damian were still quietly speaking to each other, and whenever he would have made a comment that would've been considered to be horrible for me caused me to cackle loudly, causing many people to look at us with some surprise before ignoring us after it would constantly happen.

Something made me look up, and I was able to see Jonathan watching how we were interacting with each other. He was wearing a mysterious expression on his face, and he looked exhausted and pretty beat up from whatever he was doing as Superboy.

Damian realized what was happening, and he stopped talking to turn around to see what would have drawn my attention from him. He quickly got to his feet and made a slight hand gesture towards Jonathan before he walked away to give us some privacy, and as he would leave me, he lightly touched and squeeze my shoulder.

Jonathan walked over to me, and he sat next to me. He didn't do what he would normally have done, reaching out to hold one of my hands. He was only sitting in his chair, hands gripping the armrests like he needed to do something else with his hands. Jonathan was waiting for me to say something, so he was giving me the chance to say what I needed to say.

"You didn't give me the truth," I said to him. "Just excuses. I shouldn't have taken that kind of crap. . .sorry. . ." I quickly said. My fury started to come through as I talked about something that had upset me that much. "I don't have any patience for people who don't respect me enough to trust me with the truth."

He nodded when I said that. There wasn't an argument to keep me from pushing away from him. "I know you would say something like that."

"That's all you're going to say to me?" I asked him. That was the response that didn't make me too happy. He didn't take the correct option, and he had never taken the correct option. That really was enough for me. I made the right decision.

He breathed out of his nose and closed his eyes. It was clear he was upset over what had been happening and what we had been talking about. "There's a reason why I can't tell you, and I respect you and. . ." He had to stop talking to take that moment to pause, but I knew he had meant at that moment. "It wouldn't be fair for you if I would continue to make those same excuses for you."

We looked at each other for a moment, and even though it was the same decision I had made for myself earlier, I was still pretty upset over what had happened. That really did hurt. I quickly looked away from him and limped away from him.

I needed some fresh air.

* * *

I watched Kent and Fritz quietly talking with each other. I was trying not to figure out what they were saying to each other, but I had realized it was not good for Fritz. Kent made sure to keep his distance from her. She quickly went to her feet before she quickly got away from him.

I could see the look on her face. She was very upset.

Kent only watched as she walked away from him, and he was not going to make any kind of movement to come after her. Fritz walked out of the hospital, but before I followed her, I gave Kent a look.

He appeared to be just as upset as Fritz, but he was not going to speak to her.

"What was that?" I asked him.

Kent looked at me, and he quickly shook his head. "We're done."

"You could have done it a better way," I remarked to him. I really did not like the look in Fritz's eyes as she walked away.

"Is there a better way to break up with somebody, Damian?" Kent had asked me. "It's a better way to protect her."

I could not say anything to that, so I had to quickly follow Fritz outside. She was pacing, as best as she could with her limp, but I could tell she was trying not to seem too upset. I walked over to her, startling her from being so quiet.

Fritz had stopped walking, and she looked at me, not really saying anything to me for a moment. Her eyes were far too bright for anyone not being upset. I really hated that kind of look that she had been wearing, and I really did not like anyone being the cause of that look she had been wearing.

I pulled her closer to me, and I held her in a hug. For a moment, she had stiffened in my hold like she was going to push away from me, but she relaxed against me. Fritz had wrapped her arms around my neck, and she had buried her face into my chest before she had started to cry. She was shaking in my arms, and I held her closer to me.

Kent had been looking at us before he left to see his mother in her hospital room. He did not seem to be quite as surprised to see I was the only one who would be able to comfort her. After a while, Fritz pulled away from me, wiping her eyes as she had been trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks, Dee," she said to me, and she gave me a watery smile.

I gave her a questioning look. "I did not do anything."

"You did," Fritz said to me. "It was enough. Thanks, Dee."

Fritz gave me a very light and quick kiss on my cheek, and I could feel myself freezing up on that kind of contact. Again, there was a part of me that had felt that would have been very dangerous for me. I was supposed to be and trained to be observant of the world around me. That kind of contact from Fritz had made that difficult.

I did not care about that. Fritz was always worth ignoring my training.


	51. Chapter 51

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was going to take the whole world a long time to heal after what had happened with Darkseid. What had happened in Metropolis was only a fragment of what had happened. There were visible scars across the world from the various battles between the Parademons and the many members of the League. The world had needed to be rebuilt, and only time would ever make that possible.

Kent was waiting to meet in the cafe close to the hospital where his mother had been staying after what had happened to her during the explosion at _The Daily Planet_. He had been constantly busy after the destruction of Darkseid's plans through helping his father with the search and rescue in the different cities across the world. He did look exhausted, but he had the character of someone who had seen something else entirely, something much bigger than what he was used to.

"What happened?" I asked Kent. "When you were gone?"

"There are other world," kent had explained to me. "Like our own, but much different. They were all going to be taken by Darkseid. . ." He had to shrug for a moment. "Something happened I'm not sure what could have happened. . .or even possible. . .my dad knew enough to whistle at the right moment. . ."

Kent had suddenly stopped talking about what had happened, and he could only shake his head. He knew even as he was speaking about it out loud he knew it was ridiculous to him as it was to me.

"You had to have been there," Kent had to finally admit to me. "To have the possibility of maybe understanding what had happened. It was far too strange. . ."

"It could not have been that bad," I said to him. The world was stranger than anyone would have guess. Fritz always said that it was the way of the world to be a little strange. Granted, she used that as her argument to be as strange and out there as she wanted.

"I was there," Kent had said to me. "And, I still don't know what had happened. . ."

There was some silence after that strange conversation. There was a more important reason as to why I had to speak to him right away. Kent knew and understood that.

"Look. . .about Baby. . ." Kent had said to me after a while. "I took your advice. . ."

I had him stop talking with a hand gesture as I had narrowed my eyes at him. "That's not what I had meant, and you know it."

"I can't tell her," Kent had said, shaking his head. "I can't put that kind of burden on her. . .not to mention the danger I could put her in with that kind of knowledge."

"She already figured it out," I told him. "And, she was subtly giving you hints that she knew. All she had wanted was for you to show you trusted her enough to tell her the whole truth."

Kent looked at me for a moment. He was thinking and shook his head to clear it. "You haven't told her."

"She has not figured me out," I told him, which was the truth.

"That you know of," Kent had quickly said to me.

I gave him a look. He of all people should have known that was pretty ridiculous. If Fritz knew, there was nothing that would have made her be quiet about it.

"I do know," I said to him, and he quickly made a face when he understood what I had meant.

"Point," he said. "You know her. . .she would try to get involved. Try to help me. . .putting herself in danger. . ."

Kent had stopped talking when he realized I did not look to be too convinced by his explanation. Of course, he was ignoring what his mother had done for his father, and his father had deal with some pretty horrible people. Pretty typical when one would be bulletproof.

"All good reasons," I said to him. "Partially. . ."

"I learned to make observations, too," Kent had said to me. "And, that's the main reason why I can't continue to go out with her."

I looked back at Kent, and I could not understand why he would say it in such a way to have me believe and know what he was talking about. There was supposed to be a better reason. Fritz had deserved a better reason.

"Oh really?" I asked him, and my voice was far too calm and quiet to be considered a good thing.

Kent could understand that kind of thing, having known for almost as long as Fritz had.

"Yeah, really," Kent had said to me. "I can tell I'm not the one for her, even though she probably doesn't realize it just yet."

I could see he knew more about our friendship than the two of us had been able to, or, in my case, never willing to admit to it at all. The fact he could see that and not be angry over it was surprising to me.

"Or, maybe you really are grasping at straws to not tell her the full truth," I ended up telling him. I was not going to tell Kent that.

"You wanted a good reason. . ." Kent said, but he was not as irritated as I thought he would be. "Would you really tell her the truth?"

I thought for a moment. I was not sure what I would have done if she had wanted me to tell her the truth. A part of me wanted to say I would tell her everything and get her support, but I knew it was much doo dark and brutal for someone like her to be able to handle it. I did not want to lose her because she would not have liked to see that dark part of me. . .the part that had been trained to be a killer. . .

Though, with Fritz. . .I was a much lighter person. . .

Kent noticed that slight hesitation. "That's what I thought."


	52. Chapter 52

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was sitting on the floor of the living room one afternoon following my mom registering me for my classes at Gotham Academy. That dreaded school uniform was hanging on the door to the basement, and I had glared at it several times. I was not going to look forward to wearing that thing every day.

Conformity made my skin itch.

That was why I was looking through the school's rules. I wanted to push them without breaking them, so wearing the school uniform would be mostly bearable. That was my way to handle what had been happening when I would go to school. It was going to be my way to push through the summer after what had happened with those Omega Symbols and raining blood as the world was so close to ending.

Normality tends to suck after that earth shattering event. How in the world could we live our lives normally if we knew what was happening in the world and universe at large?

I wasn't going to even dwell too much on what had happened between me and Jonathan. Needless to say, we were not dating anymore, and it really took me a long time to keep myself from being so upset over what had happened. I don't know why I was so upset over what had happened, but I was.

We hadn't been dating for too long, but I was still pretty upset. I did like him, and I thought he could understand me so well. But, he chose to end things than tell me the truth. I think I was more upset that than anything else.

Damian was there most of the summer, and he was there mostly to do what was possible to make me feel better. Or, something like that. He wasn't the type of person who's able to comfort anyone else. At least he was there. Oddly enough, that was enough for me.

That day he walked into the living room, and he had stopped walking when he saw what I was doing. He snorted and shook his head.

"I should have known you would be trying to find a way to bend the rules," he said to me. He did not look surprised at what he saw what I was doing.

"You know. . ." I said to him, setting down the paper of the very important rules for the Academy. "It's uncanny how well you can guess what I'm doing."

"Two things, Fritz," Damian had said to me as he had walked into the living room to take the seat on the couch. "It is not guessing when you are able to be observant of the people and the things around you."

"Ridiculous," I said, using his tone of voice, but I really had to work to keep myself from smiling too much. "The other thing?"

"Of course you would be impressed," Damian had responded, and he could tell I must have been teasing him in my own way.

I started to play with my long hair as I had been quietly thinking about what I was going to do when I would be going to Gotham Academy. That had helped me come up with a better plan to help deal with the school I wasn't looking forward to attending.

Damian had been watching me as I had started to play with my long hair. He knew I had been planning something.

"On second thought," Damian had said to me. He was very close to smiling at me. "I probably do not need to know what you have been planning."

"Hey, now," I told him, stopping playing with my hair as I had looked back at him. "It would've been very great."

I rolled my eyes at him, but I was very close to smiling back at him. Damian had looked almost very relieved during our short interaction. Apparently, it had taken me far too long to act like that, and I never would've thought he was very worried about me.

I wore a frown of concentration as I had looked back at him. That was strange to have coming from him of all people. I wasn't going to think too much about that, though. It wasn't something that would've been too obvious for me to be able to see again. I quickly shook my head. Too weird to think like that.

"Define great," Damian had replied to me, quirking up an eyebrow at me. He could see through anything I could come up with. "It better not be what you and your aunt had done. The Academy may not allow that to ever happen or allow you to stay."

I cackled. I was having far too much fun with that. "Wait for it. . .that won't be it. . ."

"Overconfidence," Damian sniffed, sounding to be seemingly unimpressed. "Will get you nowhere."

"Not overconfidence," I replied, not even missing a beat. We had enough practice with that. "You'll see. . ."

Damian had looked at me for a moment, and I could tell he knew what I was thinking about. That made him roll his eyes for a moment. He didn't want to admit to it, and he wasn't going to think about that too much. He might have been looking forward to that to happen. Damian had always liked to sit back and watch my antics. Given I don't get into too much trouble or get hurt.

"You are ridiculous, Fritz," he had finally said to me, but he was not intending that to be an insult or not good in any way.

It was his way of saying a compliment for me, and it had felt very right coming from him of all people. Him saying it in his own way had felt so right. I was glad he had been there that summer, especially when I had needed him the most.


	53. Chapter 53

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was up for the school day early, and i was busy putting the school supplies into my bag. Grayson was there, watching me, and I had to take that moment to look up at him. He wanted to speak to me for whatever reason. Grayson had always wanted to fill the silence with needless chatter.

"So," Grayson was saying to me as he walked towards the table where I had been sitting. "Baby's going to school with you, now, and you know how she is."

Fritz was completely different from most of the students of Gotham Academy. The way things would have been done was not the way she had wanted to do something. She followed her own way, and she did not care what anyone thought about her and what she had done. That would have made people feel very uncomfortable. I nodded at him, showing him I could understand him.

"I know you might do this, anyway," Grayson was saying to me. "But, it would be a good idea for you to be on her side."

"Of course," I said to him.

I could not see why he had felt the need to speak to me about that. He was wasting our time as he would attempt to give me some brotherly advice. Pointless. I never needed any kind of advice from him.

Grayson had looked at me for a moment, and he was not sure if I was going to say anything more to him. I took it to mean he was surprised I had easily agreed with him, but it was actually a little bit more than that apparently. He had probably seen something else between me and Fritz. Or something.

"Well. . .good. . ." Grayson said, quickly shaking his head. "And, you should probably keep her out of trouble."

"Tt," I sniffed. "Easier said than done."

Grayson had to agree with me on that. Fritz refused to listen to anyone, and she could be loudly opinionated. It was going to be pretty difficult to keep her out of trouble on a daily basis. Most people would have had nightmares thinking about that.

Pennyworth had picked Fritz up for school on that first day. She came out with her father, and she gave him a half hug before walking towards the waiting vehicle. Fritz looked at me and gave me a very small smile that was a little too much mischievous to be considered a good thing.

Her school uniform was appropriately pressed, and she wore it the way she was supposed to. That was the uniform, though. She had been wearing her favorite black converse shoes, which would cause some kind of problems even though they would not be technically against the rules. Her hair was technically as wild as it had been when she was younger. She was the type of person who would purposefully make that possible.

Fritz climbed into the car to sit next to me, and she gave me a small smile in greeting before she had yawned at me.

I quirked up an eyebrow at her. "Tired?"

"I hate waking up early in the morning," she said to me as she had buckled up in the car.

"This is not early," I replied to her. She slept too much.

"It is if you're used to sleeping in till noon," she told me. Of course.

"You will sleep away you life if you are not careful." I told her.

Of course, she would have heard that too many times in her life for it to make her change her opinions and lifestyle. Though, she would constantly ignore it. As always.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm a teen. Sleeping is a perfect thing. It's life."

"I am the same age as you," I told her. That was not a valid argument with me, and she should have known that. "That is not the same belief I hold."

"That's because you don't act your age," she quickly replied to me.

It was not intended to be a negative comment, especially from her. She had only voice an observation she had made about him. When she had said that, as always, when she had made that kind of observation since learning about how Mother had reacted to me, she had always seemed to be concerned for me. It was probably one of the few times she realized my childhood before living with Father would have been considered to be less than ideal. She may not have known exactly what had happened in my childhood, but she knew knew and could see it had completely colored the way I saw the world around me. Oddly enough, she did not hold that against me for not tell her the full details.

I cherished her and the way she saw the world around her.

Pennyworth had stopped in front of the gates to the Academy, and I could see that the moment she came out of the vehicle, she took the moment to become a little bit more serious than ever before. It was strange to see. Fritz took that moment to change how she had to carry herself. There was some kind of grace that I never had seen from her before.

That was enough for me to pause to be able to watch her as she walked through the gates of the school. It was completely different from what I was used to seeing of her. She appeared to possess a truer sense of nobility and higher breeding than many of the students at Gotham Academy. I was not as worried about her as I thought I should have been.

I walked after her, and I was surprised to see how she was more right for the school than many of the children of Gotham's highest of families. They were giving her strange looks as she had walked through the school, and they did not like how she had acted like she had owned the place.

She really was going to need my support at Gotham Academy, whether she would have wanted to admit something to that effect or not.


	54. Chapter 54

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

My mom would have been considered to be a proper Southern lady with the proper airs and graces that had to be fostered from her early childhood even though my grandfather tried to make her seem like she could have been one of his sons. Mom and Grandma made sure I had learned about how to be a proper lady. I hated it when I was younger, but that first day of school, it did become the crutch I had need for that first day of school.

I carried myself with those airs and graces of my mom and grandma. That was something I had started to do the moment I was out of the car.

Damian had stopped what he was doing to look at me, and even though he had not been wearing any kind of expression, I could see he had been surprised to see how I had suddenly changed. I gave him a questioning look.

"What?" I had asked him, only stopping for him to be able to catch up with me.

He quickly coughed as if to clear his throat when we started to walk together into the school. That was the closest I had ever saw him react about anything. It wasn't something I normally had seen to come from him. It was pretty different.

"Nothing," he quickly said to me, having me walk with him to the lockers. He had known I noticed that kind of reaction from him. "We have the same schedule, oddly enough, so you will follow me and listen to me."

"Wait. . ." I said, and I was not happy with what he was saying to me. "Several things there. . ." He had looked at me, and he could understand I was starting to become upset over what he had said to me. "I'm smart, so of course, I have the same schedule as you. Deal with it. And. . .I won't follow you. . ."

Damian actually rolled his eyes at that kind of reaction from me. He wasn't offended at how I had reacted at him. He lightly rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Easy, Fritz," he said to me. "I meant you need to listen to me to keep from getting lost."

"That fact you would automatically assume. . ." I had snapped back at him, bristling at him.

He had to shake his head as he had seemed to mildly annoyed by me. "You really are not a morning person, are you? I am offering to help you since I am the only person who you know here."

I tipped my head to the side as I had looked at him, and I had to really work to keep myself from smirking back at him. "You're actually helping someone. Weird."

He only quirked up an eyebrow at me, but he didn't say anything about that sort of thing. There was some kind of mild reaction to my words, and I wasn't sure what that was about. Definitely weird.

The other students had watched our interaction and they were both surprised and almost outraged. Probably over how irreverent I had been towards him. No one wanted someone like me to be around someone like him and not automatically treat him with some kind of respect.

I didn't really care about that, and I went to my new locker to empty my bag. It was going to be the longest year ever, but it was going to be better with Damian trying to be my support.

It was going to be pretty interesting, too.

* * *

Fritz came into one of the classrooms after me, and she quickly went to one of the desks in the back of the room. She was busy being quiet and being in her own world. She had made sure to be gracious and sweet to the people around her.

It was pretty strange to see that from her. Fritz was never known for her restraint.

She gave me a very small smile when she saw me sit next to her. Her eyes still flashed mischievously when she gave me that smile. That was not different at all. If I had not known she was really working to behave herself, I would have been more concerned about her being up to something.

"Please do not do anything to get yourself in trouble," I had said to her. "On your first day."

"I'm not," she quickly said. That was far too quick to ease my nerves.

"I know you."

Fritz had made a face at me, not appreciating the fact I was able to see through her. she turned to face the front of the classroom, and she rather sulkily crossed her arms, though she had started to wear a very small smile. She must have started to appreciate that to happen.

There was one student who had actually seemed to be offended over her being at that school and being a friend of mine. She sat in front of Fritz, making her sit back in her chair and wear a frown of concentration. The student was speaking to Fritz, and though I was not able to read her lips, I could see that whatever she was saying to her made her upset and quickly look away from her before slumping her shoulders slightly.

I glanced at that student, and the dark look I gave her, slightly surprised that student. The whole class, I kept watching Fritz with some concern, wanting to reach out to her to do what I could to comfort her. She kept her head down for the whole class period, and when the bell rang, she was quickly out of the room, not even looking at the people around her.

I quickly followed her, and I found her by her locker. She was trying not to appear to be upset, and she looked at me when she realized I was there. I reached out to her, and she took a hold of my hand. I pulled her to me to hold her for that brief moment.


	55. Chapter 55

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

There was a girl who had sit in front of me in the last class of the day. She had worn a look of complete disgust the moment she had looked at me. In her eyes, I had no right to be in her classroom and in her school, so I had better leave if I knew what was good for me.

I did my best to pay attention to what the teacher had been saying to the whole class. I needed to take notes to better understand what was happening for the class. That was my way to ignore her which was something that had ticked her off. How dare I actually ignore her.

Right before class had ended, she had turned around to look at me. Her eyes had flashed maliciously as she had given me a cruel smile. That was when she had made some comments towards me. Horrible comments. She didn't seem to care those comment could've really hurt another individual. There was no reason for her to care about that sort of thing, especially when those comments had been directed at me.

I knew enough to expect something like that to happen when I would go to that school. That was going to be a given, and that was why I had carried myself the way I did at that school. It was more like a thick skin for myself. That still didn't mean I wasn't going to be upset over what had happened, though.

The school bell rang, and I quickly went to my feet to quickly leave that classroom. I was starting to become that upset. I quickly walked towards my locker, and I leaned against it to look at the ceiling to be able to control my breathing.

That was when I had realized Damian had been there. He reached out to me, and I took a hold of his hand. Damian had actually pulled me towards him, and had held me. However upset I would have been at that moment, I was starting to become much better. He was able to make me feel so much better.

Damian didn't say anything as he was holding me very close to him. He didn't need to. That was enough for me, oddly enough.

We pulled apart, and he had been looking at me very closely. Still holding my shoulders. The hall started to be full of the rest of the students, and when they saw what we had been doing, they had stopped walking to look at us with some confusion. There was nothing about Damian that would have shown how caring he could have been towards another person, especially someone like me.

Damian took a step back from me, but he wasn't embarrassed by that. He had seemed to be pretty accepting by what had happened, and he had walked over to his locker like it was one of the most normal things in the world.

He looked at me when he had been filling his back with notebooks and textbooks to be able to do his homework when he would go home. Damian had quirked up an eyebrow at me.

"I know you have homework today," he remarked to me.

I quickly shook my head like I was going to clear it, and I had opened the locker to fill my bag with what needed to be done that night. For whatever reason, Damian holding me and acting like it was nothing wrong or different when we had been seen by the whole school was completely strange.

I say strange because my stomach was doing all these strange flips and somersaults whenever I would think about it. My face had become a little warmer as I walked with Damian out of the school building. I wasn't going to talk to Damian about that kind of strangeness because it was too weird for me to even voice out loud to him of all people.

Damian gave me another look before we had walked towards the waiting car. "Are you okay, Fritz?"

I gave him a very small smile to keep him from getting too concerned over what had been happening. "Yeah. . .I'm fine. . .Now. . ."

He looked at me another moment, trying to decide if he should believe me or not, but it didn't take long for him to decide to get into the car without asking me another question. Apparently, I was able to keep him from being too suspicious of me.

* * *

Fritz leaned her head against the glass of the car window, and she had a faraway look to her eyes of someone who was thinking about something else entirely for that moment. There was no way to get her to snap back out of that kind of reality that was running through her mind. It had always been pretty difficult to do when we were growing up, and it had been even worse when she had been upset or troubled over something.

Of course, she would have been upset or troubled over something. Fritz was at Gotham Academy on a scholarship, and she was far too different for many of them to be comfortable over what had happened. She was not considered to be proper even though she had carried herself in such a way to make that possible, and she had acted much more proper and gracious than many of the people around her.

After a while, Fritz quickly looked to be, and she realized I had been looking at her very closely and carefully again. Unlike before when she would brush aside my concern, she made one of her faces at me, basically telling me in her own way I had no need to be concerned about her, and despite her sudden reaction after class, I was not concerned for her, which was a relief for me.

She was back to being her lighthearted and carefree self. There was no reason for me to need to be concerned about her for far too long.


	56. Chapter 56

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

As always to be the case during the first week of school, the music department held auditions to decide where to place the people in which choir or band (orchestra in some cases) as would fit with whatever (or little) talent they would have. Much of the school was involved with music in some way, so the atmosphere of the whole school was charged. Those auditions were known to be highly competitive.

Naturally, I had nothing to worry about through my own kind of special upbringing. I did receive the best kind of education in all things. As always, I was first hair for the violin section of the orchestra, and that had been the case for me from the moment I came to that school.

There came a point in the day when I saw Fritz nervously pacing in the hallway in front of the music room. She would constantly play with the different parts to her clarinet, so it was clear she would never have been able to sit or stand still for long periods of time, especially whenever she was very nervous.

Fritz had stopped her nervous pacing and fidgeting when she had realized I was there. When she saw me, she had actually visibly relaxed.

"Hey, Dee," she said to me. "You're lucky you got your audition in earlier."

"I thought you had said you would enjoy the extra time to practice," I told her.

She made a face at me. "I'm regretting my words."

I had quirked up an eyebrow at her after she said that. Those were the words she would never admit out loud to anyone, and that was the first time I ever heard her admitting she was wrong.

"Are you sure you are feeling alright?" I had asked her as I had reached out to lightly touch her forehead to see if she had a fever of some kind. Usually when she was sick, she never really sounded like her normal self. If she was ever considered to be normal.

Fritz had to pause for a moment when she had felt that kind of contact. She had suddenly had looked up at me, making direct eye contact with me, and her face became slightly more pink that it had been before.

That was interesting, and it had never happened with her before. That was only from me.

Fritz quickly let out a breath as she had both taken a step away from me and quickly turning her face away from me. She did not want me to see how pink her face was becoming.

"I'm sure I'm fine," she quickly had said to me. "Just nervous. That might actually be why I decided to take back what I said. . ."

The door to the music room had opened, and Fritz went to walk towards it. She did pause for a moment as she had turned to look at me. There was something she had wanted me to say to her. That was going to make her feel stronger. Pointless, but sometimes I could never understand why she would do certain things.

"Wish me luck," she said to me.

"You do not need the luck," I told her, rolling my eyes at her. "But. . .good luck."

Fritz had given me a very small smile before she had went in for her audition for both the clarinet and to get into one of the choirs. I was not worried for her. When we were much younger, she would actually be able to sit still when she would practice any musical instrument or to be able to learn a new one. That was something her parents had encouraged. She would do fine. more than fine. She had no need to be worried.

I found her later that day, and I could tell she had seemed to be very excited over what had happened. Fritz could not sit still, but it was different from that morning, though. She was not nervous in any way.

"I knew it would go well for you," I told her.

Fritz went to say something, but she had to stop herself. Her eyes had flashed before she had snorted at me. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" I had asked her, giving her a strange look.

"It's like you're a telepath or something," she had said to me. She seemed to be a little annoyed by that. "You always seem to know what I'm thinking about."

"You are an open book, Fritz," I only said to her. "So. . .the audition went well for you, I see."

Fritz wore a confused look for a moment before she had to quickly shake her head as if to clear it. "Way to change the subject, Dee." She cackled her phlegmy laugh. "Better than well. First chair in the orchestra, and I got into the varsity choir. . .thing. . ."

"Cathedral choir," I told her. It was the better choir and the most prestigious one for the Academy. It was the one that was difficult to get into unless one had the talent to do so.

"Yeah. . .yeah. . ." She said, waving her hand to brush the subject away. "I'm in it, so. . ."

"I told you. . ." I said to her. "You do not need luck."

She gave me a small smile before she went to her next class, and it was much different than many of them before. Not playful or mischievous but full of emotion. It went straight into her eyes, and that had made me wonder for a moment. That was usually the same thing I had been feeling for her. I had never expected she would have that kind of feeling that could potentially go beyond friendship.

When I had made that kind of realization, that kind of look had suddenly disappeared, and it was like nothing had happened.

"Well. . ." I said to her. "You might actually make something of yourself, Fritz, if you stay in the orchestra and the choir."


	57. Chapter 57

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The first month or so of school went by quickly, so I was starting to feel like I was getting whiplash. I was looking at different schools for the next four years, and that took much of my free time since I still had no idea what I was supposed to do with my life. I think Damian would have called me "directionless" and "missionless," though he had never indicated that as being a bad thing for me.

It was our free period when Damian had found me at one of the tables in the library, looking at all of my information on one of the schools I had been looking into. Gotham University. My dad had went there in the past, so I would have been able to do so much after having an education there. Of course, in recent years, the college was in a part of Gotham that was increasingly becoming more and more dangerous from all of the criminal activity happening within the city, and it was only going to get worse as time would pass.

Damian took the empty chair next to me, still looking rather intently at what I had been reading. He did appear to be troubled by what he was seeing.

"What is it this time, Dee?" I asked him. He needed to communicate his troubles to me. I mean really. . .

"Why are you thinking about going to that college?" Damian had finally asked me.

So, what's with his problem with me going to that school?

I had pressed my lips together and narrowed my eyes at him. "My dad went to that school."

He would be the one to better understand the need to be so connected to one's own family and their legacies. Whatever had happened to him in his difficult childhood before he started to life with his father, he had learned to be loyal to anything his family would do or become involved with.

"Are you aware of how dangerous that part of the city is?" Damian asked me.

So, he was worried about my personal well-being. That should have been something I expected from him. Whether he wanted to admit to it or not, he was starting to care about how people were and their personal safety. Or, at least me.

"Yes. . .I know. . ." I told him. "It was starting to get pretty bad the last couple of years he was at the school."

That was my way to show him I was not overly worried about what horrible things that could happen to me at that place. That was also a pretty good way to make Damian so upset.

He gave me an unamused look. "You are far too soft, Fritz. There is no way you would have been able to protect yourself in a dangerous situation."

Them's were fightin' words.

I was very quiet as I had looked back at him. There was no way he was going to be allowed to get away with saying something like that to my face.

Damian was starting to realize he should have chosen his words very carefully. There were many topics of conversation where that had needed to happen, and when we became friends at that young age, he was able to figure it out right away. He was uneasily waiting for my potentially venomous reply, and as always, he had never liked waiting for that to even happen.

"Too soft?" I asked asked him.

"That is not the best word," he had quickly said. He knew that was starting to become a problem. "Obviously you can be tougher than most people would be able to realize."

He was trying to fix the situation, and as always, he didn't like that kind of situation and how he had to act.

"I can take care of myself," I said to Damian.

"I do not doubt those survival skills," he had said to me. He knew I had learned how to survive with very little out in the wild with the help of all of my uncles and cousins. "But, Gotham city is different. You have to be a fighter, and that is not something you try to be."

Damian had been looking at me directly into my eyes when he had said that. It made it easier for me to see that he did not see that as a bad thing. It was just something he did not see that as a bad thing. It was just something he had noticed about me. Nothing bad about that. It made me want to give him a very small smile for him.

"Yeah. . ." I ended up saying to him. "But, I'm still looking into that school."

Damian had to roll his eyes at that, and he had shook his head at that. "Reckless."

"Is that really a new realization?" I asked him. "Because if that is. . .I'm sorry."

"That is not a new realization, Fritz," he had defended himself. "I will always make that comment with regards to you."

My smile became bigger, and I started to cackle. It was apparently something he had been missing when we were at school, and had appeared to be pretty relieved to hear that kind of a cackle. I was pretty comfortable with my surroundings by that point in the first semester of that year at Gotham Academy.

There was that brief moment where we had been looking at each other without really saying anything to each other. For some strange reason there was no need for us to say anything as we had looked at each other. It was both very weird and very right at the same time. That was not the first time something like that had happened before, but I was feeling something strange over what was happening.

I was able to feel butterflies in my stomach for as long as we had looked at each other. It was not something I had experienced when I was around him before, and for whatever reason that was starting to happen much more when we were around each other.

It was not something I was used to have happen, and I was not sure how to both process it and deal with it. I did what I was prone to do: completely ignore it and overly exaggerate my antics within our friendship.

Because that was what we were, right? Friends.


	58. Chapter 58

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was far too distracted that night to be useful as Robin. It was the same weekend where Fritz had went to that most dangerous of schools on a visit to help decide if she would go to that one school or not. As always, Fritz would barely respond to my text messages, and that would only make me far too distracted, and I had never tolerated bring that distracted. Ever.

Apparently, my worry for Fritz was much different and more acceptable for someone like me.

Father had to really work to keep my focus and attention for what was happening. Being distracted was the way to keep myself between life and death, and he actually had to pull me aside as a way to force me to work on my focus.

"What's wrong?" He had asked me. It was not concern or worry, but he had sound like a teacher who was exasperated over what was happening.

"I am worried," I finally admitted to my father. There was no use in arguing or even denying the truth, especially with my father. "About Fritz."

Father did know about what she had been doing that weekend and where she had went, so he could clearly understand and see why I was so worried about Fritz. But, there may have been another reason why he was so accepting of that. Of course, he was not going to speak about that.

"We're not too far from that school," he had said to me. That was all the permission he was going to give to me.

He did not need to tell me a second time. I was quickly gone to go see how she was. Maybe seeing her as someone who would show how carefree and calm would be enough for me to ignore all of the worry I had started to be distracted by.

That school's campus was quiet. . .far too quiet to make me feel better and feel less worried about Fritz and what she could have been doing. It was a college campus, so there should have been students taking advantage of the weekend to be doing something across campus. The face it was incredibly quiet was not a good thing.

I kept to the shadows for the most part as I had walked through the too-quiet campus, looking for any kind of sign of Fritz.

Why was it that one lone could get caught in the middle of that kind of trouble on a larger scale? Only Fritz. . .

I suddenly stopped moving when I heard and saw some movement off into the far left. A young woman was carefully walking through the shadows, both keeping a close eye on what was happening around her while making sure some people were safe and alright.

That was who she was. I could tell she was the fearless Fritz. Probably too fearless.

She had suddenly stopped walking when she had realized I was there, and she had carefully walked closer to me. There was no way she would have been suspicious of me. As always and probably without even realizing it, Fritz had trusted me.

I made sure to do my best to disguise my voice. If she was able to recognize Kent, she would have been able to recognize me almost as instantly. She would be able to figure me out, but I was not going to make it easy for her.

"What is going on here?" I asked her. My voice was very quiet as I had looked back at her.

Fritz had started to wear a thoughtful look for a moment as she had tipped her head to the side. She quickly shook her head like that would have been too ridiculous to even consider.

"I'm not. . ." She had said, shrugging a little as she had been trying to figure him out. She was trying to find the words to explain what had happened. It was pretty strange that she was not constantly talking at me. I would never get used to that. She would constantly chatter at me.

"I don't know. . ." She had finally said to me. She never liked having that kind of unknown in her life. She never liked to admit she never had the answer to everything in her life.

I never wanted her to have that kind of unknown in her life. She would try to find an answer to what was happening on her own, and sometimes that would cause her to get in danger. She never really cared about the danger she would get into because she was curious and was stubborn about that curiosity.

"I will look around," I had said to her, but before I was able to leave, that was when it all had started to happen.

There was an old and beat-up car that was speeding through the empty campus. That in of itself would not have been worrying, if there had not been gunfire flying around.

Fritz would not react as she should have in that kind of situation. She did not duck like most people would have done. No. . .Fritz had to pause to be able to watch what was happening. Of course she did. Of course. That would have been something that would have led to her death.

I let out a sigh. It looked like I had to be her keeper as well as my own. I pulled her closer to me as I went to duck for cover as I worked to flatten the tired the the car with some of my batarangs which had worked very well. Fritz had not pulled away from me, a supposed complete stranger, and she was able to fully completely trust me. She probably did not really realize it, and it was something she would constantly pick at to be able to figure out why that would have been the case.

There was a chance that Fritz would be able to uncover the full truth about me and my family.


	59. Chapter 59

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Why does trouble always seem to follow me? It was getting to be really annoying and irritating. I couldn't even get out of the house without getting shot at, it seemed. Damian was right, though I wasn't going to admit that out loud to him. He would never allow me to ever live that down. Ever.

Robin had appeared out of nowhere, and that was when I was starting to realize that very have been the best look I had of him. Nothing else had my attention when I was with him in that moment. In that moment, I was able to completely trust him for whatever reason, but I would say it had to do with him being Robin or something like that. There was something about him that I thought would have been very familiar. Again. . .he was Robin.

That was something I really needed to work or trying to figure out why that would have been the case, or I would have become crazy.

Looked like I had something to look into when I was bored.

When the old vehicle drove passed us, and the Robin pulled me closer to him as he quickly got us out of the way of the flying bullets. That was all quick and almost automatic for the two of us, and I was still able to easily trust him.

It only took a few quiet moments of the silence that had allowed me to make that very important snap decision. I had a feeling that I had needed to do something. . .anything. Mostly, I was irritated I had to deal with all that trouble on that seemed to be a constant basis. To make it end, I needed to do something about it. Apparently.

I pushed away from Robin, and I pulled out my cell phone. That was not the ideal way to work on everything, but I left my laptop at home. I guess I had to make do with what I had. That was my own way to help Robin in that kind of a situation.

"I'm going to help you," I told him. "In my own way."

Robin had looked down at me, and I could clearly see he wasn't going to allow me to do anything that could clearly put my life in danger. I really needed to work on a way to talk fast to him, so he could see and understand what I was really thinking about.

That was what I did.

Somehow that was what I was able to do. I was able to get him to agree to allow me to help him. He knew what I could do and how I would be able to do it. Of course he knew. I practically handed them my old school's principal.

I messed around on my cell phone, and I was able to make the lights around campus work again. When that had happened, I was able to tell him where to go on campus to grab those people since I clearly knew it better than him from pulling up the campus map.

That night, I was able to help him so well that I knew he would not hesitate quite as much in the future to accept my help.

I was able to start my dream of becoming involved in helping as many people as possible by helping Robin.

Actually. . .that was somehow the best way to make me momentarily forget about about why Robin had seemed to be so familiar to me. Not that I really cared too much about that. I liked dealing with those people and to protect the people of Gotham City, so I was able to deal with it all and only focus on one part of that everything.

* * *

I never thought Fritz could be so calm and collected as she would have been able to help me. It was surprising for me, but I should not have been so surprised over that sort of thing. She could be full of surprises, and she could be pretty serious and knew what she was doing. Nothing could make her let loose her emotions when she was that serious.

Fritz was the type of ally I knew would be very useful. I was even willing to admit that out loud to anyone I could speak to. Grayson. Father. They needed to know that I was seriously considering to have her help us.

Gordon had been working on trying to walk again. She had been shot by the Joker a few years before, and though she had survived, she had lost the use of her legs. Batgirl was no more, so she became the Oracle, being the one person who was able to guide us through all of our work. There was a very distinct chance she could become Batgirl again since that was starting to become very much possible for all of us to deal with it all.

"Why are you getting her involved?" Father had told me.

"She is smart," I told Father. "She would be able to connect Robin to me, and she would have the abilities to help us much better."

Father had given me a look that spoke volumes. It was obvious enough to me it would take a long time to convince Father to have her help us in any way. Like with all of us, the bar was set really high for her to prove herself. A part of me could see that Fritz would easily meet that kind of challenge. She already met mine.


	60. Chapter 60

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

It was close to the winter break of our senior year when I had walked over to Damian in the school hallway in that early morning. He had to deal with speaking to one of the girls in our class, and it looked like he really did not want her to be there. She was clearly annoying him.

The closer I walked towards the easier it was for me to see what she had been doing. she was playing with her hair as she spoke to him, and it took everything I had not to rip her hair out. She was trying to be flirty with him! How dare she!

I wasn't sure why I would have been so upset with her over that sort of thing.

"My friends and I are planning a sort of get-together Friday," she was saying, and her voice was so sickly sweet that I wanted to puke.

She really was trying to get him to go to that thing with her and her friends. That had made me even more upset. That was not something I wanted to have happen. I don't know when that had happened, but I was really starting not to like having people trying to spend so much time with him or even flirt with him.

At least Damian was not that swayed by her, and for that same mysterious reason that made me feel a little better. She was only wasting her time and energy to get him to pay more attention to her.

"Good for you," Damian had said to her, and he had returned his attention back to his locker and back to filling his bag for the notebooks and textbooks for the morning.

She kept trying to get him to respond to her in the way she had wanted, but that had never worked out for her. I felt kind of bad for her, but. . .it was far too interesting to watch her of what was happening. Sadly to say, I was entertained. Too entertained.

Damian must have realized I was close by as I would have listened to everything that had been going on between the two of them. He had looked up at me, and for a brief moment, he had looked to be relieved at seeing me there. I would have been the one to somehow be able to get the other girl away from there, so he would not have had to.

I gave Damian a very small smile as I walked over to him, trying to come up with something that would have really irritated her. That was when I came up with something that I normally would not have done, but for some reason it was the one thing that was really right.

The girl had to watch as Damian would only pay attention to me as I would have walked over to him. She had to have been fuming since I knew her to be one of the people who were trying to pick on me when I had first started going to that school. How dare I of all people would try to steal Damian Wayne from her?

Whatever. . .

That made it all the more sweeter for me to wrap an arm around his shoulders, telling him to do the same thing with my eyes, and he was able, and willing, to follow my lead. I smiled up at damian, and he was able to partially return it to me. As always, whenever Damian would smile at me, which very, very rare and only partial, it would be very much genuine and real.

"Hey, Dee," I had said to him. The girl's eyes flashed when she would hear that pet name I had for him. "How's it going?"

Damian had quirked up an eyebrow at me, but he was willing to play along with me. I was helping him, after all. The other girl had to watch our interaction, and after that period of time, he was forced to look down and take his free hand to start to play with a strand of my bright blonde hair.

That had made the other girl start to walk away from us, muttering to herself as she had left us. She was not a happy person over what had happened, and I had a feeling I was going to pay for that at a later period of time. She was not the type of person who was going to ever allow that to happen, and she would always get her own way.

When she had walked away from us, Damian and I quickly pulled away from each other. Though we both acted like we had that sense of relief over not showing what we thought we we weren't feeling, I was starting to feel a little disappointed over not being that close with each other, so I wasn't going to ever focus on that sort of thing. That would make things very complicated and awkward for the two of us. Our friendship was a very strong bond, and it was something I would always value and cherish. I could tell that Damian, in his own way, was feeling the same say, otherwise, he would never have wasted his time with me with the two of us being very different in personality.

"Thank you, Fritz," he had said to me, still wearing that ghost of a smile in his eyes.

"Don't mention it, Dee," I told him, cackling to him. "I love it when I crush their dreams. . ."

Damian had to shake his head at me. "You can be so ridiculous sometimes. . ."

"You wouldn't have it any other way," I quickly replied to him. I saw through his comment. That was far too obvious. Even with him.

He was serious for that moment, looking at me directly in my eyes. "No, no. I would not. . ."


	61. Chapter 61

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Fritz came over to Pennyworth's car after school, and he had been struggling to unzip her bag as she had walked on the icy pavement. When she was close to me, she had finally started to lose her balance, and she had started to stumble. I was quickly at her side, and I wrapped my arms around her to hold her close to me long enough for her to get back her balance.

That was when she had looked up at me, making direct eye contact with me. Nothing would have made me feel the need to break that eye contact with her. It had to really make me wonder what she had been really feeling in that moment. That was not the type of look she had normally given to me in the past, but she did not seem to realize that sort of thing.

"Hey, Dee?" She had said after a while, and that one look had started to disappear from her eyes. She was only giving me a questioning look and a teasing smile. She probably had though I had mistaken or something to that effect. "I'm fine. You can let me go, now."

I quickly took a step back from her and removed my arms from her. "Just making sure. You tend to attract accidents."

She stuck out her tongue at me, but her eyes had flashed to show how amused she had started to become. there was no way she was ever going to deny that sort of thing. "Oh. . .well. . ."

I actually opened the door for her to get into the car, and she did not really remark about that though she would have thought that to be strange to see that come from me. It was Pennyworth who had appeared to have an opinion about that sort of incident. He only opened the door for me, but he wore a knowing look for me. Pennyworth knew of the significance behind my actions and I believed he had seemed to be incredibly pleased about that having had happened.

I gave Pennyworth a look to keep him from saying something like that. There was no reason why he should tell Fritz the reasoning behind my actions. Even though I could see she was not ready to know about any of it, I knew I had wanted to be the one to speak to her, to be the one to tell her everything about what I had feeling. I needed the time to make that kind of decision for myself. When she was ready for the truth. . .

That look had only made Pennyworth seem to be more amused, but at least he was not going to say anything more about it.

"You doing anything tonight, Dee?" Fritz had asked me when I was in the car next to him.

"Nothing that I would recall," I had said to her. "Why?"

"Is it alright if I could come over?" She had asked me.

"Probably not," I had said to her without really taking the time to pause and to think for the answer.

"Why?" She had asked me, wearing a look to show her confusion.

"Kent would be over," I finally told her.

The look she had given me was enough for me to know there was still a part of her that was still upset over how her relationship with Kent had ended. It was why I did not really want to mention him to her.

"Oh. . ." She had said to me. She had to quickly clear her throat as a way to keep herself from saying anything more.

I wanted to reach over to her, but I had to make one of my hands into a fist as a way to keep myself from doing it.

"Yes. . ." I said to her, and I had started to say more to her to explain myself to her.

Fritz could see through that, and she had shook her head. She did not appear to be quite as upset as before, more understanding of me. "Well. . .you're friends with him."

I gave her a look, though I had to really work to keep my face expressionless. Most people who had been hurt by a person would use that as an excuse to make sure other people would have to stay away from them. That was not Fritz.

"Well. . .he is. . ." I had said to Fritz.

"Why would I think that's bad?" She had asked me. "You can hang out with your other friends. I'm not stopping you." She took that moment to have a thoughtful pause. "This could be my way to actually do my homework. . ."

I shook my head at her, but I did not say anything more to her. She was not acting the way she was supposed to. Why was I so surprised about that sort of thing? She was never the type of person who would easily follow convention.

"Well. . ." Fritz had said to me when Pennyworth had stopped the car at the Manor. She had made a face when she saw Kent, and she was quickly looking around her to search for her mother. "Mom's here. I'm good. . .see ya!"

She had quickly climbed out of the car to walk over to her mother, purposefully making every effort to avoid Kent if that was even possible. Fritz had given me one smile before she had left with her mother.

Kent had seen that sort of exchange, and he had been wearing a look of someone who had also realized something important.

"I wish you would keep it to yourself, Kent," I said to him. "Do not mention it to her. . .ever. . ."

"She'll need to know at some point," Kent had said. He had appeared to be upset over what had happened, so there may have been some feelings existing towards her. But, he could understand that. "Don't make her be forced to do something she would later regret."

"But," I told Kent. "I do not wish to force her hand over that sort of thing. . ."


	62. Chapter 62

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

This was the first time I had ever paid close attention to the news, and it had felt incredibly strange to me. For whatever reason, I had thought that was a very great idea. It was a good idea to stay abreast with what was happening in and around the city if I was going to somehow offer up my services to Batman and Company.

That kind of lit a fire within me when I had helped them those very, very few times in the past. I knew what I had to do to help the city that had seemed to be falling apart every night and her people. and I had a set of skills that would've been very useful. Knowledge was going to make me more than useful. It had to.

I came back to Damian's home one weekend, and Alfred was the one who had answered the door to allow me into the Manor. Unlike before, he was purposefully trying to speak to me in just a way to make me stay in the front for whatever reason. At first, I was talking with him, but after a while, I was starting to become annoyed with him.

"Master Damian has a friend here," Alfred told me.

"Then we should mark this day in history," I replied, not fully understanding him in any way.

I walked even more into the Manor, looking through the Manor for Damian. Alfred knew enough not to stop me when he had failed to distract me. He was close by to me. . .just in case. . .or something like that.

When I walked into one of the rooms, I saw Damian talking with Jonathan very quietly. They had suddenly stopped talking when they had realized I was there, and they both seemed to be surprised to have seen me there. If my surprise hadn't matched theirs, I would've been very amused over what had happened. Damian was never the one of those people who would easily show his surprise.

That still didn't keep me from cackling back at them.

Damian was the first of the two of them who was able to recover from my sudden appearance. He quickly shook his head, so he could like he hadn't been startled in any way.

"Why are you here, Fritz?" He had asked me.

Jonathan had to work to keep his face expressionless as he had looked at me, and I made sure to not to look at him far too. Still upsetting to me, but for whatever reason, it wasn't as bad as immediately following our sudden break-up.

"Was going to talk to you about something," I told him. Then, I cackled again. "You should've seen the looks on your faces. It was freaking hilarious."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Damian had quickly said to me.

"I should've taken a picture, then," I quickly said, shrugging it all off for that moment like it didn't really matter. "It's not really important, so I'll leave ya alone."

I was out of that room and walking towards the front door, leaving that message with Alfred to give to Damian. Whatever they were talking about had seemed much more important than anything I would've wanted to talk to him about.

When I went to my car, something had made me look around me. Jonathan's car was nowhere to be seen. How did he get to the Manor from Metropolis? Alfred couldn't have been the one to get him. The time of that kind of schedule didn't seem to fit in any way.

It only would've worked if Jonathan had flown there.

I was not happy about that. He would tell Damian but not his girlfriend? Maybe it was a good thing me and Jonathan had been through. I didn't notice Damian had been watching me do that kind of reaction before I had left.

* * *

I saw Fritz pause by her car, and she had been looking around her with what could have been a through and bemused look. She was probably looking for Kent's vehicle, and by her reaction, I could see that she was unable to find it. She was not happy about it in any way. Then, she was long gone.

Kent had noticed that small incident as well. "You don't think she would have figure it out?"

"If this keeps happening," I told him, giving him an unamused look. He should not have flown to the Manor. "She would start to understand what could be happening. . ."

Kent had made a face. He could understand that much, and he was starting to realize it would not have been a good idea to have flown to the Manor. He knew experience at how observant Fritz could actually become all of the time.

"In the event she figures it out," Kent was asking me. "Would you finally tell her?"

I paused for a moment. That was not something I had considered, and I had been considering to bring her into the Crusade. "I would not deny it. In fact. . .it would make it easier to bring into the Crusade. . ."

That had made Kent upset. Since he did not fully understand Fritz, he did not fully understand of what she could truly do, and for whatever reason, I was able to understand why he would have been that upset.

"That's not how it works!" Kent had said to me. I could see the fury in his eyes, even though he worked to keep it under control.

"She could make a fine Oracle," I told him. I knew what that could have been considered a problem. Especially given the history of anyone working with Father. "And, she had proved herself in the past."

Kent went to argue with me, but he had stopped himself and shook his head. "You say that now, but you would change your mind when it would actually happen."


	63. Chapter 63

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Damian had found me at school the day after I found Jonathan and him planning something at the Manor, and he was holding the piece of paper I had given to Alfred.

"What is this?" He had asked me.

"Didn't you read that?" I asked, snorting a little at that sort of thing. I couldn't keep myself from teasing him in any way. I needed to do something like that to him, loving to see what his reaction was going to be like.

"I did," Damian said, quirking up an eyebrow at me. He could see through that. Not surprising, but sometimes that would have worked.

"Apparently not," I replied, giving him a small smile, so he would know I wasn't trying to be malicious in any way. "Maybe you aren't good with your comprehension?"

A look had passed across Damian's face, and I realized he was so close to smiling at me. close. But, as always, he had been able to stop himself from allowing that to happen in time. He had ended up making him seem to have grimaced.

"Close," Damian said to me once he was able to recover himself. "Next time, do not smile. Your smile. . ." He had strangely paused in that moment for whatever reason as he had looked at me, and he had to shake his head and quickly clear his throat. "Your smile takes away the bit of your insult, Fritz."

"Yeah. . .okay. . ." I said, rolling my eyes at him. "Anyway. . .since the school had issues last year, we didn't have a prom. . .so. . .I'm asking you to prom."

Damian had given me a look, and he had seemed to be pretty surprised about that sort of thing. It definitely was not something I would have willingly done. Dressing up was not something I could ever tolerate, but my mom had come from the type of Southern family where that had to be done under certain circumstances.

"And, you are asking me?" Damian had finally asked me.

"Well, yeah," I said to him. "You're like the only one here I would much rather go with."

Damian had made a show of thinking over what I had said to him, but I could already see there was no way he was going to ever say no to me.

"I would escort you," Damian had said to me. "But, there is something you have to do first."

"My aunt, my mom, and I are going to get a dress for me," I told him. I had a feeling that was the one thing he was going to mention that needed to be done.

"You were nearly wild when I first met you," Damian had said to me. "Since this directly involves Gotham's high society, there would have to be certain expectations you have to meet."

I made a face at him. "I know."

He had quirked up his eyebrow at me. "You would have to learn and put those expectations into practice." I went to argue with him, but he had stopped me by raising one hand and shaking his head. "There is a charity ball by the Wayne Foundation. As a Wayne, I am required to attend the function."

There really was no hint of a question with that kind of explanation. I looked back at him as a way to get him to actually ask me instead of telling me something and assuming I would agree with him.

Damian had rolled his eyes, but there was a very small amount of amusement in them. "I would like for you to join me at the ball."

I gave him a smile. I was very pleased with that, probably much more so than I normally would have been.

"Was that so hard, Dee?" I had asked him before I cackled for a moment. The look he gave me was amusing. "Yeah. . .I'll go with you."

* * *

The fact that Damian had been going both to the prom and that really big charity ball with me didn't go unnoticed by his admirer. If she was bad when she knew we were friends, she was horrible when she had learned about that. I swear her blue eyes turned bright green. They were practically glowing green.

I was at my locker after school, trying to figure out what homework I needed to take home with me. When I closed my locker door, I realized she was there, glaring at me.

"Hi. . ." I had said to her, trying to appear more calm and collected. I didn't want to get her to gloat even more about something. She probably would have thought I was afraid of her if I had showed any kind of slight reaction. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to speak to you on an important matter," she said to me. Her face had that pinched look of someone looking down at someone had considered to be lesser compared with her.

"I guess we are whether I want to or not," I had muttered at her, earning a sniff from her.

She started to tell me what she had thought about me and my low status. I came from a family of very poor farmers, on my father's side, though she had actively ignored where my mom came from. I was the school's charity case as being a scholarship kid.

I just looked at her as I started to channel my mother. She had been raised to treat the people around her with kindness and respect no matter who they were or where they came from. That was not what she had expected to come from me.

"Your words mean nothing to me," I told her before I turned on my heel to walk away from her, and I didn't look back at her in any way. I really didn't care about what she thought about me.


	64. Chapter 64

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I would spend most of the school week at Wayne Manor after school, spending time with each other of course, but there was much more to it all. Damian was actually doing what he was saying he would do for me. He was doing what he could to turn the "wild child" into someone who could be considered to be elegant and cultured.

If only he knew. . .

My mom's family were considered to be New Orleans blue bloods and had been for over a hundred years, probably long before the war the people of the North called the Civil War. With that kind of pedigree there would carry with it certain expectations. My grandma wanted me to carry myself in a way that would fit with someone of my family, though after awhile, she had realized that may have been difficult to maintain all of the time. I may not have been able to be a part of the debutante ball as my mother had been, but she made sure I had received that same kind of education.

I had to learn how to act in social gatherings. Prim and proper. Expert conversationalist (when I realized I needed to be). Dancing. How to dress. That sort of thing.

Apparently, Damian had no idea about that sort of thing, so it was going to be very entertaining to see how he was going to react to that sort of thing. Way too entertaining since he had no idea.

It had started off with ow I was supposed to eat. Dinner etiquette was, surprisingly, not that difficult for me. Grandma made sure that kind of etiquette had been maintained for the family dinners. She was the stickler for that sort of thing.

We had worked on that kind of light dinner, and Damian had paused for a moment to watch what I was doing. He had to have been surprised, but he had kept that feeling well hidden from me. There may have been a part of him that was starting to suspect why I was so easily able to learn what he had been teaching me.

Barbara Gordon must have been there to see Dick Grayson because she walked into the room. . .walked into the room?

That was when Damian had actually showed his surprise, so he had no reason to expect something like that to have happen. She may have been walking, but she was leaning heavily on one cane and using the walls or backs of chairs and tabletops. It took all of her strength and determination to be able to walk.

"Damian," Barbara had said to him. "Don't waste your time. She already would have been able to do all of that."

Damian had looked at me, and he had wanted some kind of an explanation from me. I looked back at him innocently, but I had problems keeping a straight face. That was when I had started to cackle my face. That was when I had started to cackly my phlegmy laugh, and he instantly knew what that had meant.

"I should have known about that," he had commented, crossing his arms as he had looked back at me.

"What?" I said, still trying to be innocent. "You're the one who had assumed."

Damian was very quiet for a beat, trying to keep himself from smiling at me. It had to be that way. There was also that mysterious look that had gotten in his eyes, again. I could guess at what that look should have meant, so I chose to ignore it at the time, had to be the better choice of action.

"I should not have been surprised about this," Damian had remarked to me. "Especially from you. . ."

For whatever reason, Barbara had watched that with a facial expression was far too amused.

* * *

I would always say it, but Fritz never ceases to amaze me. She would destroy those expectations of her, and she was never malicious over that sort of thing. She may go for the dramatic flair, but that was only when she would have been far too amused to see what kind of reaction she was going to get.

Gordon's revelation momentarily distracted the two of us from that kind of situation. She was walking of her own volition, though she was labored and needed all kinds of support as she had worked to walk. We had watched with shock. A few years before, Gordon had faced the Joker, and she had been shot. That gunshot wound, though she was able to survive it, had caused her to lose the use of her legs. There was a very small chance she would have regained the use of her legs, and we had to accept Gordon being in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Apparently, that was not something Gordon was ever going to accept, so she had to have been working to make herself be able to walk again. Gordon had carried herself in such a way like it would not have been a big deal, and she had continued to act that way when she was speaking to us. She was the type of person who would have been able to pull that off without making her seem so arrogant.

I had looked at Fritz, and she had been giving Gordon a look of someone who had been looking up to her. It was Gordon who had been wearing a knowing look for how Fritz and I had been interacting with each other. As always, Fritz was oblivious to it all, or she was not going to mention it and wished to ignore it.


	65. Chapter 65

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I was working on my tie as I had to wait for Fritz to finish getting ready. She came with her mother, and her mother had been able to help her. That was probably the one time she had taken much longer than five minutes to get ready. Even though she was more accepting of it, it was still a strong clash of wills.

"Will you sit still, Baby!?" I could hear her mother saying several times.

"I am!" Fritz would snap back. She had sounded very annoyed at having to sit still for a long period of time. She had never liked to sit still.

"You were not!" Her mother would say back. "Crack you knuckles. That usually works."

It took all of my self-control not to smile at their interaction. Their interaction was something that had proven who Fritz would be and her type of personality. It would always be very entertaining, and she would never purposefully do that to seek out that kind of reaction.

There was some silence, but there was a hint of expectation with it. That was why I had turned around, and for a moment, I became frozen in place. I could not think in that moment, and oddly enough, that was not a problem for me.

Fritz was finally ready.

She walked into the room, and she was the reason behind my reaction. It was amazing how much she had changed when she had gotten ready. There was still Fritz in the young socialite she became. She was beautiful in her own way. Though she had made the concessions of being that dressed up, she had made sure there would still be a hint of her own personal style.

I could not look away from her, and I could not find the words to speak to her in any way. The only thing I could do was to look at her, and I was trying to commit her appearance to memory.

She tipped her head to the side as she had looked back at me. There was that playful hint in her eyes, so I knew she was finding my reaction to be very amusing. At least she was not able to figure out what I was truly feeling for her. I was not ready to let her knew what I felt about her.

Fritz looked to Grayson, and she was close to smiling. She could never keep a straight face, especially when she thought of something she thought to be funny.

"I think he's broken," Fritz had stage whispered.

Grayson had been studying me when Fritz made that comment in jest. He had started to wear a look of understanding and a more knowing look. I slightly scowled at him. He better know to keep quiet about what he had been thinking.

Fritz apparently did not notice that interaction, and she took a hold of one of my arms as she had started to walk towards the door, giving me one of her smiles. "Let's go! It's probably not a good idea for me to sit around dressed like this. It won't end well."

"You are already tempting fate," I had agreed with her.

I had a suspicion the charity function would not be quite as bad with Fritz by my side.

* * *

I could see why my mom had very little patience for those charity functions of Gotham City. She never really spoke about it, but it was pretty obvious over the way she spoke about them. Many of them only cared about things that had to be pretty, and they only done things to help pretty things. The Wayne Foundation was the only organization that supported causes that were valuable and helpful. The rest. . .? Not so much as I was able to learn.

There was one older lady who was sipping champagne and watching the large crowd that had gathered. The rules of polite society had dictated the two of us should attempt at some kind of polite conversation since we were close together.

She wore a long silver gown that may have exposed a little too much surgically enhanced cleavage to be considered tasteful, but I could respect a woman who would do her own thing, not caring about what others would have thought about her. That woman had ropes and ropes of pearls, and I wasn't sure how one person was able to wear all of those pearls at one time. She had directed her attention towards me.

"And who are you to have arrived with the Waynes?" She had asked me.

"I'm Adelaide Fritz," I told her, and it was clear there was no recognition of the name. Probably a very good thing. "A friend of the Wayne family."

No reaction from her. Again, still probably a good thing.

Somehow that awkward introduction had led to a conversation about her and everything she had been involved with. I thought many of them were a waste of time and money, but I kept those opinions to myself.

How would homes for Peregrine Falcons be more important than for the people to have places to stay? I would never understand that one.

Damian had walked over to me, realizing my plight, and he reached out a hand for me to take. I gladly took a hold of his hand to be led away from there.

I smiled at him. "My here. . ."

He had actually appeared to be disarmed by that sort of thing.


	66. Chapter 66

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Damian and I had been dancing with each other, and we weren't going to leave each other. We had felt much better with each other, so we could only tolerate each other. Well, maybe more than tolerate each other.

As we were dancing with each other, I realized I didn't want to be too far away from him. I liked being that close to him, though it was really annoying that he kept trying to lead.

"You seem to be on your best behavior," Damian had remarked to me very quietly. He couldn't look away from me.

I had given him a very small smile. I was sort of amused by that sort of thing. It was very close to me cackling at that kind of response, though it wouldn't have been that appropriate for that moment. That may have been why I would have wanted to cackle. Damian had given me a look, so he would've known what I was thinking about in that moment.

He had quirked up an eyebrow at me. "Maybe not. . ."

"Hey. . ." I had said to him, but there was no way I was going to show I was affected by that sort of thing. It was not a way to offend me. He knew what he was talking about, and he knew me far too well. "Yeah. . .so. . .?"

There was a very sudden silence that had fallen in the ballroom, though there was some stunned whispering all around us. It was enough to make us tear our attention away from each other to look up at the front of the ballroom.

Dick was there, and he was practically beaming over what had been happening. Barbara Gordon was there with him at his side, and she was standing on her own two feet and able to walk without aid. That was THE big reveal. Everyone knew she wasn't able to walk again, but she had proved to be someone who wasn't going to ever give up on that.

They were very happy together and with each other. That much was very clear just by looking at them. Barbara and Dick had been holding each other's hands, and Bruce had a hold of a microphone. He had started to speak. There was no way to deny the fact he was incredibly proud, and when I was able to look around me, I was able to see the police commissioner, Jim Gordon. He was just as proud as Bruce had looked to be.

"I am proud to announce the engagement of Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson," Bruce had announced, and he had started to break off into some kind of a speech about the two of them and how proud he was to have her become a part of the family he managed to make for himself.

Everyone was eating up his whole speech and paid it all with some groveling respect and a fawning deference. They took it all at face value, not caring about those missing finer details. There seemed to have been more to what he was actually saying. It was starting to become very troubling for me. What could he, and his whole family for that matter, have been hiding?

I looked up at Damian, and I had started not to feel quite as upset as before for whatever reason. That still didn't mean I was going to let that kind of feeling go, though. Actually. . .I was going to do what I could to figure that one out.

* * *

Fritz had not been what I was expecting for that night. She had proven herself to be the type of person who could move in the more civilized world even though she would live by her own rules. No one would have recognized her as the girl who would have been considered that muddy, wild child.

Father had given the news about Gordon and Grayson, and he was obliged to give a speech about the two of them. It was more to the benefit of everyone around us because they love that sort of thing. Fritz was listening, but she had been starting to wear a frown of concentration. She was not liking what she was hearing, though she was oddly very quiet in that moment. So, Fritz could show some self-control and self-restraint. The world really was full of surprises. That was going to eventually become a problem for us.

The music was starting to return, and the conversation was starting to fill the room. That pause did not happen, as they were acting like themselves. The topic of conversation may have changed, but they did not appear to have reacted differently.

I was looking at Fritz. She did appear to be thoughtful and very determined, but she was still mischievous. Her eyes were too playful to be considered a good thing. I knew her far too well. She would always say that I knew her far too well to ever allow her to do anything "fun."

Grayson and Gordon had been walking through the crowd of people accepting the congratulations from many of them. They stopped close to me and Fritz. She congratulated the two of them, but there had seemed to be a part to it that was much more. . .gloating. That did not go unnoticed by Grayson.

He had quirked up an eyebrow at Fritz. "What's that about, Baby?"

Gordon had rolled her eyes and shook her head. "There was a betting pool about the two of us on whether we would get married or not."

Grayson did not appear to be happy about that sort of thing. "What. . .? Really?" He was thinking for a moment. "That explains Wally's reaction, then." He looked to Fritz, apparently relieved over how innocent she tended to be. "I'm glad that you're not involved with that. . ."

Fritz could not control herself. She started to cackle at what he had said to her. "Actually. . .I won the pool."


	67. Chapter 67

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

There was a quiet moment during that charity event, and Fritz and I were able to spend that moment along together. During that whole night, Fritz had surprised me she was completely charming to anyone who had met her no matter how annoying they were to her, and I had never seen her to be that "bubbly." It was completely different for me.

I could not look away from her during that night. My eyes would always follow her no matter where she would go. I wanted to smile back at her when she would laugh. It was that infectious. Very infectious.

Of course none of that had escaped Grayson's notice. There came a moment of that night when he would stand next to me as I was too busy looking at Fritz.

"She still doesn't know, does she?" Grayson had asked me.

"I would never tell her I am Robin," I quickly said to him. He really should not have spoken about that. Especially there. "I would never jeopardize us."

"That's not what I was talking about, Damian," Grayson had said to me. "And, you know it."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Grayson actually rolled his eyes at me. He was not going to ever believe me no matter how loudly I would deny it. He was watching me watch Fritz be Fritz, and there was no way I could look away from her to argue with Grayson. no way. He would have been able to notice that. Anyone who would have been able to use their eyes would have been able to see it.

"Yeah," Grayson remarked. "No idea."

Fritz had to have felt like someone was watching her because she looked around her before she was able to see me and Grayson. She quickly walked over to us, still wearing that smile.

"Hey, Dee," she said to me. "How can you be such a wallflower? Come on!"

She had woven her arm through mine to get me to walk with her.

"I am not being a wallflower," I told her, but I was still walking with her. There was no way I was going to be able to pull away from her.

"You were practically standing against the wall as he had watched everyone," Fritz replied. "Wallflower."

I could only shake my head at her, but there was no way I would have been able to argue with her. She made sure that was going to be very difficult for me, and she knew it. She was far too pleased with that.

That could be my chance to tell her, like Grayson would think needed to happen.

Fritz, being as observant as possible, had studied me closely. She knew I was debating with myself to tell her something.

"Just spill it, Dee," she said to me. "It can't be that bad."

I could only look at her. She had no idea. and that was the problem. Emotions could be a very fickle thing. I could never trust them, and it was very strange that there are people who would trust their emotions.

Of course, that was the moment when Mother decided to make Father regret making an enemy of her.

Mother's most trusted companion, Bane, was in the large room. Everything became very quiet as he had walked through the room. He held everyone's attention. No one could look away from him even when they were fearful of him and what he was going to do.

Fritz started to stand a little taller as she had looked back at Bane. She had that stubborn look of someone who was not going to cower. Of course Fritz wanted to fight back. She really needed to work on that.

I reached out to her to pull her with me as I went to get out of the room. She was fighting with me, which I had expected of her.

"We need to get out of here," I quietly told her. I was trying to find a way to tell how dangerous that situation was starting to become without actually saying it to her and how I would have known.

"We need to do something," she snapped back at me. Of course, that would have been enough to make her angry. "Not running away."

That was when I had us stop walking, and I had been looking at her. I wanted to get her to understand how serious the situation was. She was too stubborn. Too stubborn. That could get herself killed.

"What are you going to do?" I asked her.

"I don't know," Fritz grudgingly admitted. "Something. . ."

I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. I did not want to be in the middle of that situation. Only Fritz would get into a dangerous situation when she had no idea what she was going to do.

"They are trained killers," I said to her, trying to make sure she would understand completely the danger in that moment with those individuals. "Buster and courage would never compete with that."

"I can't just run away. . ." She said to me. Her stubbornness was really going to get her killed. She had no idea about what was happening, and she was not going to listen to anyone.

"I know. . .I know. . ." I was saying to her. "Trust me, Fritz. Trust me. I know what I am doing. . ."


	68. Chapter 68

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Trust me. . ." Damian had said to me. " I know what I am doing."

He looked like he did know what he was doing. I don't know how. Damian was able to appear to be so calm and collected. I was shaking, but he really was calm and collected. It was that kind of calmness that came from experience. I could see that he somehow knew what he was doing.

That was unexpected.

But, why should I have been surprised?

Damian had pulled me with him into a recess in the hallway, putting the two of us in the darkness to be better hidden. We were very close to each other, and for a brief moment, my breathing sort of became a little quicker and my heart rate picked up. That was pretty weird for me, and I didn't really expect that to have happen.

Some of the people who came with Bane had run passed us. They didn't even notice we were there, which was a very good thing, I guess. He had looked down at me with concerned eyes, so he must have been able to see what I was really feeling.

"You okay?" He had asked me when everything was mostly quiet. We could still hear everything that was going on with the others as they were trying to get out of there themselves.

"I'm fine," I said to him. I was trying to make myself feel better, and I wasn't going to show my fear over what had been happening all around me.

"You are shaking," Damian had said to me. He was still holding me closely to him.

Damian took a step back from me, and he removed his jacket. He wrapped it around my shoulders. His hands were still gripping my upper arms for an extra moment or so longer than would have been necessary. He must have realized my reaction because he quickly took a step back from me, quickly lowering his hands. When he had pulled his hands back from me, I realized I wanted him to continue to be that close to me. He was able to make me feel safe when we were that close together.

"That should be better," he had quietly said to me, and he had to lightly clear his throat in that moment for whatever reason.

He started to take off his tie as he had started to look around us. "Come with me."

Damian held out a hand for me to take, and we started to walk quickly again. There was a chance we would have been able to get out of there without any kind of trouble.

"There is the commissioner, Fritz," Damian quietly said to me. He had gestured towards the older man. "Leave with him."

Damian went to leave, but I tried to stop him. He was not walking in the right direction as his directions said I should have gone. He better not get himself involved with everything that was happening.

"What are you doing?" I snapped at him. "What about you?"

"I am going to see if I can help get people out of here," he said to me as he started to get back into the building.

I did pause for a moment before I ran to follow Commissioner Gordon. I know I should have been more worried about him, but I knew he wasn't going to be in too much danger for whatever reason.

There may have been more to Damian than I really knew.

Great. . .another Jonathan-type of a situation. Just what I need.

* * *

I grabbed a bag out from a hollowed floorboard that had been placed there when no one was really paying too close attention. I quickly changed into Robin before getting directly involved with what had been happening.

Father had been focusing his attention on Bane, though he had to be very careful about that. Very careful. One of the first times they fought each other. Bane had broken Father's back, and it took a long time for him to recover and regain his strength. Of course, Mother would have sent him to fight father. Grayson had to be very careful as he too started to work to get the people out of there. That was to be our first priority.

We were able to get them out of there without any of them getting seriously injured or killed. That would have been considered to be the best thing in that moment. Bane was able to get away from there, but that was not before he had given Father a grim warning:

"Gotham City will be tried for the grievous sins done to the vast majority of her people. Rest easy, Batman, for this will be the last of the ease you have enjoyed. You are living on borrowed time."

With those words, he was long gone. There was a start of me feeling incredibly uncomfortable. It was the feeling of the calm before the storm, and we had no idea of what to expect. There was not the feeling I could tolerate. I preferred to be in control of what was happening around me. There was no control in the unknown.

I hated that.


	69. Chapter 69

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I went to look into something on my own as Robin. father was never going to allow for that to happen, especially when Bane was trying to take control of Gotham. Of course, I felt I knew better. That would have explained why I would leave in secret and making sure no one noticed me in any way.

When I came into the building I knew to hold certain suspicious activity, I should have paid more attention to the feeling of wishing to leave suddenly. It felt like I had wanted to quickly get out of there, and it felt like I was walking into a trap. Since I knew better than anyone else. I ignored that kind of feeling. Nothing could ever get the better of me. Nothing.

Or, one of Bane's followers with a gun.

He had appeared out of nowhere the moment I came into that empty room of that building. When I saw that gun, I knew that would have been incredibly horrible. That was when I knew I had made a mistake, though it had bothered me to admit it to myself.

Shots rang out, and I tried to do what I could to get out of the way of those bullets while at the same time I had to fight back at the man. Bullets did hit me, but at the time I could not really feel it all from the adrenaline I had been feeling.

I somehow managed to get out of there, and he was not going to finish me off. Luck. I would guess. The luck of someone who was only beginning the life as a vigilante. I was lucky I was not dead. Yet.

As I had to quickly move through the shadows I could feel the blood flowing from my wounds. I may have been lucky was not killed by the follower of Bane, but I was going to bleed out if I did not get to Thompkins in time. Her clinic was too far away from me at that point of time. There was no way I would have been able to get to her in time. I needed someone to help me.

My arrogance would have gotten me killed.

Then, I heard that all too familiar phlegmy cackle close by to me.

* * *

After everything that had been happening in Gotham City, I started to help out my aunt and mom with running shelters for people who had been living in the places heavily hurt by the struggle against Bane. There came a point in time on that one night when I was able to be alone, and I had pulled out my cellphone to look through any messages, especially some from my aunt. It was our way not to snap from the dark tension that was happening around us. As I leaned against my car, I had started to cackle loudly, relieved that the tension was quickly going away from me.

Before I was going to leave, I heard someone say my name:

"Fritz. . ."

I looked around, surprised to hear Damian's voice. That was when I saw a very bloodied Robin leaning heavily against the wall of one of the surrounding buildings. He had several gunshot wounds that I had been able to see.

But, I was more trying to see why he had talked like Damian. . .oh. . .

Damian was Robin.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was a little bit for a moment.

He needed my help, and he was willing to show himself to me. He trusted me at his most vulnerable moment, being so close to death at the same time he was showing me his identity.

That still didn't stop me from acting. I quickly walked over to him, and I did what I could to support much of his weight as I walked over to my car. Clearly, Damian needed my help. Fast.

"Take me. . . to Thompkin's clinic. . ." He had said to me when I struggled to get him into the back seat of my car. He was having problems moving at that point, but he was trying to help me help him.

I took him to that clinic, and I was somehow able to walk him into the building, supporting his full weight against me. I was trying to keep myself from feeling too horrified over what was happening to Damian. He was very close to dying, and I could not allow that to happen to him. Damian wasn't going to die. The doctor had suddenly looked up at me when she heard me open the door, and for a moment she was ready to attack me until she saw me trying to support Damian. That caused an immediate change over her.

"I'm pretty sure he had been shot," I said to her. Damian couldn't say anything by that point, focusing on being able to breathe. "Can you please help him?"

The doctor had walked over to me, and she went to help him to one of the rooms. She went to cut open his shirt, and she had looked up at me.

"I'm going to need your help," she had said to me. "My nurses couldn't make it here tonight."

"I don't know what to do. . ." I said to her. I wanted to help him, but I didn't want to mess him up even more.

"I'll tell you what to do," she had quietly said to me. She was grabbing the supplies she was going to need, but she was acting like she was hoping for what could happen next.

That was how I became a surgical nurse/fellow surgeon (though that was very slight).


	70. Chapter 70

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling the slight effects of any kind of pain medication they had given to me, and I did not like that kind of feeling. I had to deal with that sort of feeling while lying in the hospital room. As I slowly sat up in the bed, I went to check where I had been hurt, knowing I had been wrapped and stitched.

I was incredibly lucky to have survived what had happened.

"Thank God you're alright," I heard Fritz say to me. I quickly looked back at her, and i could remember why she would have been there. I knew I could not get to Thompkins in time, and I was able to see that Fritz was there. I went straight towards her. It only took me calling out out to her for her to be able to recognize me.

Fritz was sitting in a chair close to my bed, and by the way she was trying to sit up to look at me, and I could see she had looked to be incredibly relieved at seeing me conscious and starting to sit up.

"So. . ." She had said to me. "You were like crap, and the doctor had me help her out."

I looked her directly in her eyes. "I am surprised I am still alive, then."

Fritz had tipped her head to the side as she had looked back at me. "Don't tempt me, Dee."

"You know I could not tell you that," I said to her. I knew why she was incredibly upset with me. "There are people who would kill for that kind of secret."

"Yeah. . ." She drew the word out. "But, no one would figure out the connection between me and Robin."

She had no idea what she was talking about, and she was just stubborn enough to never see the right about that sort of thing.

"They will," I said to her. "And, you would pay for it much more."

Fritz actually rolled her eyes me. The nerve. . .why do I ever tolerate her?

"You have to admit that your dad has everyone fooled," she said to me. "No one expects much from him."

"You," I said to her. "They could make the connection to you."

Fritz snorted at that sort of thing. She was only being stubborn. That was why she refused to listen to reason.

"Think about it, Dee," she said to me. "What do I do in my life that would make people think I'm connected to Robin?"

I went to argue with her, but I realized there was nothing really I could speak to her to show her she was very wrong. That did not work out as well. I realized her side of the argument may actually have been more right than I would have ever had guessed. I never wanted to admit that sort of thing out loud to anyone else. Especially Fritz. She, of course, would always love to make me speak about that sort of thing out loud over and over again to tease me. She lived form that sort of thing, and she would constantly look for something like that. Constantly.

Fritz was wearing a look that showed she was well aware that I could not argue with her in any way. I was not really pleased to know that happened. Ridiculous.

"I know you think I'm right," Fritz said. She sounded sickly sweet. That would have been a pretty bad idea. She was enjoying that far too much. Far too much. I would never hear the end of that. Never. She would make sure of that.

There was a strong part of me that did not mind that in any way. It had always been that way, and I had always enjoyed that sort of thing. Always.

"No," I had to say to her very carefully. I needed to be careful at that moment. This is at the moment where she had wanted to have some kind of an argument with me. "It shows I cannot find an argument with you."

"That means you know I'm right," she quickly replied, and her eyes were playful as she looked at me.

Fritz was on her feet, and she had went to the door to make some kind of a signal to Thompkins about me being awake. She was not able to see the look of exasperation that came across my face for that brief moment. That would always seem to happen when I had to deal with her, but I was started to realize I would always enjoy that whenever it would happen. There was never a dull moment when I was around Fritz. It was very difficult for me to continue to not tell her that sort of thing.

She returned back to the side of my bed, and she had been wearing that very mysterious look. It was something I could not really read from her which was different from ever before. I was not sure what to make of that sort of thing. That was something I had normally done in her direction in the past.

Fritz was at the side of my bed, and she gave me a light peck on my cheek. The place where she had lightly kissed me was warmer, and I could still feel her there. "I'm glad you're going to be alright. Really glad."

She took a hold of one of my hands and squeezed it before she quickly left the room as Thompkins entered it.

That really was different from her.


	71. Chapter 71

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I would always sit by Damian's bad as I was waiting for him to wake up. I didn't want to think about what had happened to him. . .I mean. . .he was shot and all. Anyway. . .the worst part was playing the part of surgical nurse/assistant. It took everything I had to keep everything under control and to be of some help for the doctor.

It was all for Damian's benefit.

I don't think I was more relieved before the moment Damian had opened his eyes and carefully sat up. I wanted to both laugh and cry at the same time the moment I saw him start moving again. He had appeared to have been alright, and that was something I needed to have happen at that moment. I only felt much better when he started to be mostly controlling by telling me to be careful with the information of him being Robin. . .blah. . .blah. . .

Yeah. . .definitely fine. . .

That was enough to make me snap back at him. He had no right to take control of me and what I could and couldn't do, so I ditched the worry and concern to be able to argue with him. Damian was able to respond to me even though he had been shot and had been in surgery, so apparently he was being pretty blase about everything. . .

There was no way that would've made me feel any better (my attempt at sarcasm), but I was too focused to win my argument.

"Think about it, Dee," I finally said to him. That was me being able to win. That was my best argument. . .my conclusion. "What do I do that would make people think I'm connected to Robin?"

Damian was going to argue with me, but he couldn't find the best way to refute that. Of course, he was trying to hid that from me, but he couldn't. I'm that awesome!

I was so very close to cackling at him, but I could prove that miracles did exist and kept that from happening.

"I know that you think I'm right," I said to him. That was about all the gloating I allowed myself to possess.

Damian wore a look of someone's patience starting to fray that always seemed to happen whenever we would try to argue with each other. I get the feeling that it was good natured and all for show. If there was anyone who had control, it would've been Damian.

"No," he said to me with extreme patience. He could tell that if he had tried to find fault with my argument, he would have had to deal with another argument. Apparently the signs were pretty obvious. Especially for him "It shows I cannot find an argument with you."

I snorted. He hated to admit defeat, and that was as close as I would get from him. "That means you know I'm right."

Our sniping at each other had been much better and helped me realize better that he was alive and well. Damian was fine. Fine. That had really added to the enjoyment I had been feeling at the two of us sniping at each other.

For some reason, all that mirth I had been feeling in that moment completely disappeared as the realization of what had happened started to hit me. The idea of Damian not surviving had really bothered me for whatever reason. That made me really upset like it had cut me straight to the core.

That was when I was at the side of his bed. I don't know how that had happened, but I had given him a light peck on his cheek. That had caused Damian to freeze up for a moment for whatever reason, but I chose to ignore that part.

"I'm glad you're going to be alright," I said to him as I had squeezed his hand. "Really glad. . ."

* * *

I was out of the room to allow Doctor Thompkins to quietly talk to Damian in private. I didn't want to deal with whatever they were talking about at the moment.

That also allowed me to get all of my thoughts together because they were making me feel incredibly overwhelmed over what they were going to cause me to feel at that moment. It was all too much too fast, and I really needed to work on sorting them out or something. I think I was trying to ignore what had happened with Damian that night and how close a call it had been.

I was sitting on a chair and placed my head in my hands. That was supposed to allow me to sort through everything which was what I needed at that moment. It didn't really work out that well, though. I could feel someone had been watching me very closely.

At first it was enough for me to be able to completely ignore it. It wasn't as intrusive, but I was feeling incredibly uncomfortable the worse that feeling had started to become. It came to a point in time where I had needed to get rid of that kind of annoyance, so I had looked up to see Bruce Wayne actually glowering at me.

Well, that was completely different and unexpected.

"Adelaide Fritz," he had said to me, and his voice was actually pretty dark and cold. That was enough to make me uncomfortable. I will never admit I was afraid. "We need to discuss what you have discovered."


	72. Chapter 72

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Adelaide Fritz," Bruce Wayne had said in a voice that had actually made my blood run cold, and that dark glare only made it worse. "We need to discuss what you have discussed."

"He kinda technically told me," I quickly said to him, which was the truth for what had happened. Why I felt the need to correct him when he was incredibly furious was a mystery even to me.

"We still need to talk," he said to me. His voice was still cold and his glare still dark. He was not amused over my comment towards him. It was going to be one of those times.

I made that kind of realization that he was trying to intimidate me into keeping that kind of secret for him and his whole family. I had to really work to keep myself from yelling back at him. He had no right to scare me into listening to him. No right! Couldn't he trust Damian's judgement and trust my skill at figuring out with the secrecy? Apparently not.

I think that intimidation had the exact opposite effect on me, and I don't think he had realized that sort of thing. He should've. He was friends with my dad and knew my mom, and I was friends with Damian for several years. That reaction should've been expected. If not, I would've enjoyed it far too much to show him that sorta thing.

When I was looking back at him, I think that was when he realized how made I was starting to become. Since this was me, my eyes probably flashed and nostrils flared. He should've known how mad I became at that moment.

"What do you mean discuss?" I asked him. My voice becoming too calm. That wouldn't ever be considered to be a good thing. He should've known that over the years. "I think you know I can keep a secret. What. The. Heck?"

That was when I started to rant and rave back at him. There was no way that was going to make me stop. I was being that upset at the moment. I was definitely beyond being able to control how mad I was at the moment. Assuming I wouldn't keep that secret or to intimidate me was the two things that made me angry.

I had to really consider on controlling my breathing as a way to start to control my temper. It didn't really matter, though I completely ignore that kind of thought.

"You say that now. . ." He had said to me, trying to talk me down.

At that point he knew enough to change the subject to calm me down in some way. He was trying to talk me down, but he had no way to make that even possible. Bruce was trying his best, though it wasn't his best.

"No. . ." I was saying. I was going to make him believe me in that moment. "I'll always say that. Always. You don't need to worry about me or what I could do. I can't believe you don't even realize that."

We looked at each other, but it didn't take long before Bruce shook his head at me as he started to walk to Damian's room.

That would probably take too long to get him to be able to understand me or to be able to trust me in some way.

Whatever. . .

* * *

When Thompkins was finished speaking to me, Father came into the room. He was mildly irritated, and from what I could hear outside of the room, I did not need to guess why. I knew. Father must have said something to Fritz, and the tone of voice and what he had said to her must have made her seriously angry. Sometimes Fritz would not hold that in, and she would voice her displeasure. Sometimes. . .most of the time, actually.

Father had to take the seat next to my bed. He was still irritated over that encounter with the angry Fritz.

"You should have been more careful, Damian," he started off. He had appeared to be worried for me, though he was not going to talk about it too much.

"I was, Father," I told him.

"Then," he said to me. "You shouldn't have been out there. I specifically told you not to."

"I needed to do something, Father," I argued with him. "I could not stand by and watch Gotham suffer and burn."

"There are some things you shouldn't get involved with," Father was saying to me. "You are too inexperienced."

That was when I had rolled my eyes at my father. Sometimes he still used that cookie-cutter speech for all the Robins/Batgirls on me. He should have known how ridiculous that would have been for me given how my first ten years would have been like. I was trained by a powerful group of assassins for ten years. By my tenth birthday, I could best fifteen of them without even trying.

I was more than capable to be Robin. More so than the others before me.

"You were shot several times, Damian," Father had said, and he was still worried for me while still not showing it. "That never happened with the others."

Of course they would be the best. Of course.

I made sure not to show that kind of reaction to Father. Control would always be necessary. He may not have been aware of it, but he was constantly comparing all of us with the two originals, Grayson and Gordon.

"I was not fighting anyone, Father," I finally said to my father. That would have been something I would have done. Just not that kind of night. "I was helping some people."

That was not what Father had expected me to say to him. In the past, I would never had risked my own life to help another person, unless it had furthered my own agenda. There was an obvious change that came over me.


	73. Chapter 73

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The city was chaotic, so Father really was busy trying to bring some kind of order to the city. He was not going to leave me alone, though. Father knew that I would do what I could to help the city even though I was still dealing with from being shot. That was something Father would do, and there were times when I was like Father more than anyone else. Father had Grayson stay at the clinic with me to keep me from escaping.

Grayson was far too quiet and thoughtful to be considered a normal circumstance for him. He did look out of the windows at the city at times, but he would look over to me.

"You actually risked your life to help the city?" Grayson had asked, but he already knew the answer. "What brought about that change?"

The truth was simple, and it should have been obvious. Well. . .it was obvious to me at least. Fritz. . .it had to do with Fritz. But, I was not going to ever admit to it out loud.

"This is Father's city," I said, taking the typical tone of an heir's arrogance as I had used in the past. That was something I want other people to know about me, not the actual truth, and it should have been something that had seemed to be more believable than anything else. "Of course, as his son, I would do what I could to protect his city."

Grayson had looked back at me, and he had been wearing a thoughtful expression on his face. Apparently, there was something about what I had said to him that did not seem right to him. He could guess why it could have been off, but even he was not sure about the why.

Fritz took that moment to walk into the room. She was supposed to be back at home. Completely safe and secure and completely away from the chaos of the city. She should not have been there. Not even close.

I sat up in the bed to give her a sharp look. "What are you here, Fritz?"

She shrugged away my concern like she should not be too worried for anything that should kill her.

"Decided to see how you were doing," she was acting all lighthearted, but there was a sense of darkness or even anger.

"What is wrong?" I asked her. I knew her well enough to see why she would have been so upset. Oddly enough, that would have been the moment when she was far too close off to the people around her.

Fritz quickly looked to Grayson before looking back at me, and she shook her head. She was not going to tell me anything with him in the room. Fritz was clearly more comfortable with me than anyone else, and she must have trusted me much more. For whatever reason I would never understand or would ever believe.

Grayson understood her reaction, and he actually walked out of the room. I was able to see him pause at the door to study us for that moment before walking out of the room.

"My aunt got hurt," Fritz said to me. That was not the only reason why she would have been so furious and upset. "For no reason other than the fact they were bored. . ."

Fritz only shook her head, and she had suddenly stopped talking in that moment. She was very quiet. I knew why she was so upset. Fritz was the type of person who could see the best in people, and she would get so heavy hearted when she realized something that would prove otherwise.

As always, that tore at me. She would never have been the one to see how the world really worked. The world needed more people like her. Not less.

I reached out to take a hold of her had, and I actually squeezed her hand gently. Her shoulders slumped for that moment, but she was not quite as upset as before. We sat like that for almost an hour before she had to leave the clinic, hopefully to get back home.

Grayson walked into the room, arms crossed and wearing a thoughtful look. "Now I get it."

I wore an unamused look. That was something that would always seem to happen when I had to deal with Grayson thinking he knew everything.

"What are you talking about, Grayson?" I asked him. He should not have focused on that one thing.

"I know why you were risking your life to help people," Grayson remarked. He was not going to tease me about it, but he had appeared to be more thoughtful, becoming more understanding for me. "Spending your time with her brings out the best in you."

"Tt," I sniffed. He should have taken that as a sign to back away from that topic.

He completely ignored it. Because of course he did. . . Grayson was the type of person who would say advice when it was not needed.

"You like her," he said to me. "It's pretty obvious. . ."

I glared back at him and shook my head. "I find her tolerable. Why else would I allow her to be around my for periods of time?"

That did not sound too convincing for Grayson, and he shook his head.

"It's pretty obvious," he said to me. "You do like her. . ." He was quiet as he thought for a moment. "And, trust me on this. . .she likes you, too. But, I don't think she realizes it just yet. . ."


	74. Chapter 74

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

I could clearly see what was happening to Gotham City. That one guy was able to make everything go completely crazy without even trying. There was only Batman and his very, very few allies, so there's nothing he could do save contain that insanity.

Several days of all of that. . .

I took out my laptop. It's time I used my own few skills to help out in some kind of way. I spent several hours trying to make my half-baked plan successful. There were far too many "hoops" I needed to jump through, and I was starting to become far too annoyed and impatient that I was so close to chucking my computer out of the window.

I needed to do something to help, but I was completely helpless. Too helpless for my liking. I hated that kind of feeling, and I needed to do something about it.

There was a very slight knock on my door, and I quickly went to open it. The person at my door was my grandma, on my father's side, and she was wearing a knowing expression on her face.

"I know what you're trying to do," she quietly said to me. She was lightly leaning on her ever-present cane. "What if I told you I could give you a way to help you in some way?"

"Meaning?" I ask, trying to appear as innocent as ever.

I knew enough to know that there were some things I shouldn't tell my family. No matter how close I was with my family members. I was trusted with huge and very important secrets, and no one should ever know about them.

"Come with me," she quietly said to me, as she turned to walk away. I didn't even pause for a moment as she walked away from me before I quickly followed her. A part of me wanted to know what was happening and what she was going to have me do.

We walked together to her house, and when we came into her house, she led me to that locked door that had always captivated me and preoccupied me when I realized she wasn't going to allow me near that thing. It was always locked, and she refused to talk to me about it to me whenever I asked her about it.

My grandma unlocked and opened the door, and the two of us carefully walked down the stairs into the basement-type of a lair. There was a computer there, and it had an insignia on the side that was very reminiscent of the chessboard of the game she had raised all of us to like playing.

"You will be able to do something much more, here," my grandma had said to me, and I couldn't help but agree with her as I had looked around us in awe.

* * *

Father made me stay behind in the Cave when he left to help his city and protect her citizens. I was still healing from when I had been horribly injured, and Father did not believe I would have been better at helping him in the worst of the fighting. He may have been right.

He had me take the role of Oracle, watching and helping from the sidelines. Gordon was able to become Batgirl after being able to be healed from her fateful run-in with the Joker a few years before.

I hated it. Hated it.

I was the type of person who needed to be actively involved. I did not do well being stuck on the sidelines. That was not how I was raised, and that was not in my blood. I had the blood of warriors flowing through my veins from both sides of my family. Being stuck on the sidelines did not sit well with me. I could not do it, but Father needed my help.

I was there to realize something very important. Something that had not happened in years.

The Red Queen had made her appearance.

From Father's files, the Red Queen was known to be a member of Checkmate. As one of the Queens (Kings), she had control over certain Checkmate operatives. Colors had needed to match, apparently. The Red Queen and her red operatives had historically been considered trustworthy. Somehow. She was the one who was at odds the White Queen and the Black King and their operatives.

The Red Queen was there to make the people who had been following Bane to be surrounded by the armed police officers, for once fighting for the sake of Gotham. The Red Queen had scrambled their orders and communications to make that possible.

I stared at the symbol of the Red Queen, the stylized red Queen of Hearts from a deck of cards. There clearly was something I did not understand t be happening around me. I hated that feeling more than anything else.

"Checkmate. . .?" I asked myself. That was an organization I heard very little bit about.

Hours later, Father came back to the cave. He immediately removed his cowl as he had walked towards the computer.

"That's what I thought. . ." Father had said out loud when he saw the symbol of the Red queen. "But, why now?"

We were staring at the symbol, hoping it would have been able to tell its secrets to us. Nothing. Always nothing. Father only shook his head.

"You did not see it," Father explained to me. "The Red Queen was able to call for ARGUS troops to deal with Bane and his followers, and the Red Queen was able to locate his bomb and somehow disable it herself."

I studied Father in that moment. Despite the good news, he had been giving me, he did not appear to be too happy with what he was talking to me about.

"What is wrong, Father?" I asked him. There was something horrible about that.

He looked at me at that moment. "One can never be too certain about ARGUS and especially Checkmate."


	75. Chapter 75

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

We were finally in school, and all of the uneasiness from the chaos in the city was long forgotten. That would always be the case when you would be constantly surrounded by what would be considered to be all-out war almost every other month. Kind of deadens the shock and the horror. People were more somber when they came to the Academy, but that did not make that any more cautious.

Fritz noticed me walking very stiffly as I came back into the school. She quickly walked over to me, and she had taken a hold of my arm to have me walk with her.

"You can lean on me if you like," she quietly said to me. "No one would accuse of being weak, Dee."

When she said that to me, she was wearing a very small smile. She was waiting for my reaction.

"I was not worried about that, Fritz," I said to her with exaggerated patience. That was my way of showing her I was not overly amused with her at the moment. there were times when she would think herself as someone who was far more clever than she actually was.

"You always had been," she quietly said to me, but she snorted slightly.

She could never hold back that kind of laughter of hers. Never. She was always very close to laughing at everything.

I only looked at her for that moment, and I thought about the comment Grayson had made about her. He felt she did have feelings for me, but she was not really aware of it at that moment. I was trying to see any sign of it, but there really was nothing about that. Not sure what to think about that, but I kept that to myself to know show it to anyone.

"You know, Fritz," I said to her. "I can walk myself."

"Yeah," Fritz said to me. "Too bad. Let me help you."

I rolled my eyes at her, but that was something I came to expect from her. There really was no way for me to argue with her too much.

"You seem to be worried about something," Fritz had commented to me with we came to the lockers.

I looked around us to make sure no one would be able to hear what we would be speaking about.

"The problem with Bane was much more serious than anyone would have guessed," I explained to her. "The only way he was even stopped was through the help of ARGUS."

"From the way you talk about them," Fritz had said to me. She was thoughtful for a moment. "You don't like them."

"Their tactics tend to be at odds with Father's," I said to her. "Though, they have been a help to us in the past. It is the shadowy group within that would be the problem. They call themselves Checkmate. Their motives are unknown. They tend to play both sides against each other more often than not."

Fritz wore a look of concentration. She could clearly see why that would have been a problem, but she did not fully understand the reason why.

"You never dealt with them in the past," I said to her. "You don't need to waste that energy."

"You don't need to worry. . .right now," she said. "You don't need to waste that energy."

"I wish I could have that kind of focus. . .that energy. . ." I remarked, shaking my head at her. "If you do not worry, then you would end up killed. The life of a warrior. . ."

She snorted, but she had appeared to be of a more understanding type of nature. "You don't always have to be that warrior. Life is more than the battle."

"Unfortunately," I said to her, quickly looking away from her. "That is not in my nature."

She tipped her head to the side as she had looked back at me. Her lips had been pressed together to keep herself from saying anything more to me at that moment even though she wanted to say so much more. That was not something she had wanted to hear in that moment. Usually never was. She hated it when I made comments like that about myself.

"What did they do to you?" Fritz finally and quietly asked me. She could see that it was what happened to my childhood, but I could not talk to her about it. Not then, at least.

"I was trained to only be a warrior, Fritz," I said to her. I was finally looking her directly in her eyes when I was saying that to her. A part of me wanted her to understand. Needed her to understand. "Should that not be obvious to you?"

She thought for a moment, processing what I was actually saying to her beyond just words. Her eyes widened slightly when she was able to fully understand me. It was the closest to the truth about my first ten years of my life, and she could clearly see why that had affected me so much and for so long. That was when she had wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me into a rather unexpected embrace. I only froze slightly before returning that hug, closing my eyes for that moment.

"You don't live in that life anymore, Dee," she very quietly whispered to me. "Not as long as you have me. . .Dee. . ."

I wanted to say it all in that moment to her, but I had to stop myself in the last moment. I could believe her. She was very hard to think of as a liar and a manipulator. That was not in her nature in any way. I felt much better with her being that close to me. As always.

"I believe you, Fritz," I finally and very quietly said to her.


	76. Chapter 76

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The rest of our senior year went by in a complete blur of classes and school work, making everything go by very quickly. It was not too long before we were able to think about graduation. We were so close to going out into the real world.

It was the Friday before our graduation ceremony when the whole senior class had to gather together to practice what we were supposed to do for the ceremony that Sunday. Apparently, one important thing to decide for most of the people in our class was to decide who to walk with during the ceremony. For me, it wasn't that difficult to decide.

"Hey, Dee," I said to him. "You an' me?"

He gave me a look. "You assume too much, Fritz."

Damian was far too calm and collected when he said that, as always the case for him. He was baiting me, and I wasn't going to have none of it!

"Oh, really?" I asked him, quirking up an eyebrow at him. Not the right time to yell at him. Especially with everyone staring at us. They knew the signs to watch us argue. For some reason, they always thought it would be entertaining to watch, once they finally got used to it. Not going to give them that, either. "That's probably because I'm the one who's crazy enough to put with you."

"You have got to be. . ." Damian muttered at me, but he shook his head at me. There was a slight amusement in his eyes as he had looked at me when I said that to him.

He knew well enough not to keep making me have some kind of an argument with him.

"So anyway. . ." I said to him. I wanted to get the answer from him that I wanted.

"You did not need to ask, Fritz," Damian finally admitted to me. He could not really look away from me as he was saying that to me. "It should have been obvious to you."

"Now who's making assumption?" I teased. He walked right into that one.

"Now you are trying to be clever," Damian replied, but he was close to joking with me. Very close to smiling at me.

He might actually make it in social situations. I was so proud of him!

* * *

Father summoned me to his study the night before that pointless ceremony that many western societies seem to believe to be important and necessary to have happen. He wanted to speak to me as father to son before that ceremony.

"You wanted to speak to me, Father?" I asked as I was standing in the doorway and waiting for Father to notice me and allow me into the study.

"Yes, Damian," Father said to me. "Come in and close the door behind you."

I walked into the study, and I stood in front of Father's desk with my hands clasped behind my back, waiting patiently. It used to be that I would be able to stand still for long periods of time, but I could not at that point of time. I had to wring my hands together as I stood. Something I must have learned from Fritz. She would either play with her long hair or play with one of her rings. She never could sit or stand still for any period of time. That did not go unnoticed by Father, though he made no comment about that sort of thing.

"You may not notice this, Damian," Father said to me. "But, I could see it. You've changed a lot since you first came to live with me."

"I have noticed the little things, Father," I said to Father. It was something I could agree with him.

"It's for the better," Father said to me. "No matter what your mother would say."

"Of course, Father," I said, thinking about what Mother said to me. Of course, Mother would never have liked that kind of change over me. She would have considered that to be a weakness.

It was Fritz who helped me through that. . .always Fritz. . .always. . .

"I think we both know why. . .or who," Father had said to me. He could guess it had to do with Fritz. That was always the case.

I made sure not to show any kind of reaction to that. Maybe when I first made that kind of realization, I would have had a reaction, but it became such a factor in my life that I could not think of anything else or anything differently. I had already known that, and I had been constantly living with that for a long while.

Fritz ignored what would have been considered to be my problematic pat, or at least, she ignored it. My past did not color her opinion of me, and I knew that to be a very rare thing indeed. Just thinking about that would have made me smile. Fritz would be the one who would bring out the best in people. Just from being around her. I felt I was stronger when I was with Fritz and fighting to make sure she was safe.

My father and I continued having that conversation, but we stopped indirectly speaking Fritz. Father had created an international organization to have a "Batman" on almost every continent, at least. He wanted me to go to the Middle East to work for him.

"Of course, Father," I said to him. I would do what my father wished me to do.

"Early June," he said to me. "You need to be very careful. Your mother has strong connections there."

"I have stronger," I said to Father. I was never my mother, and many people had noticed that, even when I was younger. Many of them were loyal only to me, and they did not really care for my mother. "And, I will be careful, Father. Who is the main problem?"

"Leviathan. . ." Father said to me. "Your mother. . ."


	77. Chapter 77

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Damian was not really happy about he needed to say to me. He was more quiet and sullen than I had really seen him in a long time. Even though we were sitting together, Damian didn't really look at me. It was more annoying than he was acting like that, and he was the one who set up the meeting in the first place.

I made a disgusted sound in the back of my throat, making him look at me. "Out with it, Dee. There's a reason why you wanted to talk to me, so spit it out."

"Fine," Damian finally said to me. "I spoke with Father. He wants me to head to the Middle East for the so-called Batman Incorporated."

"Why there?" I asked him, not fully understanding him.

"My grandfather's power and ancestry strongly tied there," he said to me. "I have strong connections there."

"Huh," I said. "Makes sense." I paused for a moment, and I took that moment to really think and try to understand what he really mean when he said his father's plans to me. "Oh. . ."

"Yes, Fritz," I said to her. "I will be leaving early June when all of this pomp and ceremony over an unimportant high school diploma is over."

We both were very quiet as we looked at each other. The enormity of his news started to hit us. For whatever reason, I wanted to burst into tears over the fact he was going to be so far away for a long and indefinite period of time.

I reached out to him to take a hold of one of his hands, and there was going to be no way I would let him go. Damian looked at our entwined hands before looking at my face. He started to wear a look that I couldn't really read or understand, not saying anything for the longest time.

He moved closer to me, still holding my hand. "Even though I would be so far away from you, Adelaide, I will always think of you."

I was still in shock of him actually using my name as opposed to my nickname of "Baby" or my last name. Damian leaned forward to lightly kiss my forehead. It was something completely tender, and, what I had decided at the time, to be out of character for him.

She he lightly and tenderly kissed my forehead, my stomach started to flip around for whatever reason. Even though much earlier I started to cry, at that moment I wanted to smile, feeling much happier. How did such a simple gesture make that kind of reaction out of me?

"You'll be careful, right?" I asked him. I needed that kind of reassurance from him to make me feel better and keep me from worrying too much over him.

"Of course, Fritz," he said to me. "I grew up in that area. There are people who are loyal to me."

"But," I was saying to him. "Doesn't your mother not like you?"

"They would be loyal to me regardless of my mother's opinion of me," he told me. "You do not need to worry about that."

"Well fine," I replied. "But, I'm still going to worry about you."

He was quiet as he looked back at me, and he shook his head. "It is misplaced, but it is appreciated."

* * *

I came back to the Manor after talking with Fritz. It was quiet, but that was not too surprising. Father was probably out keeping an eye on things in the city. However, Grayson was still there, so I started to suspect he may have been waiting for me to arrive.

Of course, he would do something like that.

"You told her?" Grayson asked me. He knew of my assignment and what I had needed to do.

"She knows I will be in the Middle East to help Father for the foreseeable future," I said to Grayson. I was not going to allow him to get me to talk to him about that, even though I had to work to keep my emotions in check.

"There's no need to tell her that," I said to Grayson as I started to make my way towards Father's study.

A part of me was slightly annoyed that Fritz did not immediately figure out my feelings for her. All of the signs were there for her to clearly figure that one out. I kissed her forehead and called her by her Christian name. I never called anyone by their Christian names, and she was the who had initiated that kind of contact, never me. It should have been obvious, but she would always remain oblivious. Maybe the more emotional and weaker part of me used that as a reason not to tell the full truth myself, but I did know that I was not going to force her in any way.

Grayson was still following me to have me continue speaking to him. He should have known conversation about Fritz was over, but he could be quite thick sometimes.

"What you never come back?" Grayson asked me. "And, she doesn't know?"

I had to use all of my self-control to keep myself from attacking him over that slight. The nerve to assume I would get killed. . .

But, there was a part of me that would have said that she would have been in too much pain if she admitted to her feelings for me and would suddenly lose me. It would have killed her if she had lost me like that, but at least at that moment, she would pull through. . .she had to pull through. . .

"No worries for me about dying in the area of my grandfather's people," I snapped back at him. Venom dripped my every word. That should have been enough for him to know he had offended me.

"Life can be strange sometimes, Damian," he said to me. "It can throw something unexpected at you. Like your close friendship with her."

"Sometimes life can be controlled," I said, going into Father's study.


	78. Chapter 78

A/N: Please read and review!

It had been a couple years since me and Damian last saw each other. that period of time both went by very quickly at parts, almost a blink of an eye type of thing, and eternally slow at the same time. My time was split between classes, which were finally challenging enough to hold my interest, and the goals and schemes my grandma had in mind for me. I didn't really pay too much attention to his absence.

That was the only way to keep me sane. Being busy was the only way to do that.

But. . .there was always a period of time when I would feel kind of low. . .for lack of a better term, I guess. I didn't have the opportunities or chances to give Damian a hard time about anything happening in our lives. Apparently, I really did miss him much more than I really thought I would have.

I was in contact with Damian's family, even after he was long gone from around Gotham. Dick was always the one who made sure I knew Damian was alright, and whenever he said that to me, I would feel so much better. The others had not been too aware of that, so they didn't really talk to me about him.

There came a day when Dick refused to really talk about Damian, even when I directly asked about him. I became very quiet as I started to study him very carefully. My grandma taught me about that kind of skill, thinking it would be very important for me to know. Dick was deeply troubled, probably over what had happened to Damian, I had assumed, and he was trying his hardest to hide that from me. He, rightly, assumed I would've tried to get involved to help Damian or to figure out what's happening to him.

Dick, at that time, didn't figure out that I could easily read most if not all of them.

I went home, and I grabbed the key my grandma had given to me at the start of her little project for me. I came to her house, and I went to her shop. To the outside observer, that shop was for her various wood carving projects. I walked towards the back door and unlocked it.

That led to a darkened room that had probably a more "super" computer than the Batcomputer (have to use it at some point to make the determination on that). I sat in front of the computer, and I used it to figure out what had happened to Damian and I used it to figure out what had happened to Damian.

I was not happy about what I learned, and I immediately knew what I needed to do to help him.

* * *

I should have known I was walking into a trap the moment I walked into the building. The signs were all there. The meeting place was in a building on the outskirts of the city, and it appeared to be completely empty, and the meeting was supposed to take place at night.

When I walked into the building, I was face-to-face with the Leviathan agent mother had claimed to be the greatest warrior and conqueror to come through the League of Shadows, which was something she used to say about me. He was only known as the Heretic, and he always had his face covered when we met.

"Knight," the Heretic had curtly greeted me by the name I chose to use with my work in stopping the Leviathan.

"Heretic," I remarked in much the same manner. He was not going to intimidate me in any way. No matter how hard he would try.

I became resigned to what had happened. There was no way out that I could see. That was why I left with him without putting up too much of a fight. There was a hope that I would be able to find a way out of that situation, if I took the time to wait and to be patient.

"I am not stupid," the Heretic said to me. "I know you are waiting to act on something. . ."

I immediately lost consciousness.

When I regained consciousness, I saw my mother waiting patiently for me. She was involved with Leviathan in some way, so I was not surprised to see her there.

"Hello, Damian," Mother said to me when she knew I was awake. "I am pleased to see you unharmed."

I tipped my head to the side as I had listened to her as she spoke to me. that last part had seemed too awkward and forced. She was only going through the motions on that last part. A good mother should care about what would happen to her son.

When I was much younger, I truly believed Mother to be the perfect example of a good mother, and the few moments I had with her were treasured. That was the model of how a mother should treat her children. Fritz's family taught me differently, much differently.

"There was no need to fight," I said to my mother. "Not at that moment, any way."

"A weakened state," Mother commented to me.

"A conqueror does not need to fight all of the time," I told her. "Sometimes it would be more beneficial to wait and watch for the right moment to act."

"There may be hope for you after all, Damian," Mother remarked. "You could still become the leader of Leviathan. As you should."

"I thought it was the League of Shadows?" I asked her. "As I became like my father?"

Mother struggled as she tried to show her reaction to that. Something must have happened to cause to break away from Grandfather and the League of Shadows to create Leviathan.

"It did not have the same. . ." Mother was saying, but she had to stop to look at the door when she heard some struggle happening on the outside. "The League of Shadows would only hold you back, Damian."


	79. Chapter 79

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"The league of Shadows would only hold you back, Damian," Mother said to me. She paused, expecting me to respond in some way.

I had no idea what I could say to her. She made sure I knew my destiny was with the League of Shadows and to be much greater than my father as I had been growing up with her. That change was quite jarring, and I knew nothing of the reasons behind that sudden change. She could see I had changed since I had started to live with Father, and in her eyes, that change was unacceptable. I was weaker and lesser in her eyes. I became weaker instead of stronger when I was with Father.

"Damian," Mother let out a breath for me. "This is what I had feared would happen. Weak. . .pathetic. You could make decisions that could kill you."

The door opened behind Mother, but instead of the Heretic, there was instead a young woman dressed in all black and wearing the beaked Black Plague doctor's mask to cover her face. In one hand, she held a small sword, and in the other, she held a small, silver disk.

"Zugzwang," the mysterious figure said, tossing the silver disk at Mother.

When the disk made contact with Mother, she was shocked, and she collapsed to the ground. I was horrified over what I had witnessed. My mother. . .

The mysterious woman was by my side to unbind by hands, and I went to fight her. She was able to meet my attack with fast reflexes.

"Only unconscious," the woman said, taking a step back from me and gesturing to my mother. "Look."

I knelt next to my mother to see if she really was still alive. She was. Then, I looked up to see that the mysterious woman was long gone. She must have used that as an opportunity to escape. I went to my feet and walked out of the building.

The Leviathan compound had been breached in some way, and ARGUS agents were handling the apprehension of the Leviathan members. A man dressed in green with a green hood up to cover his face in shadow walked closer to me, holding his bow in a way to show me he was not a threat but ready for whatever I would do to him.

"Damian Wayne?" He quietly asked me.

I made a face at him, but that was Oliver Queen, known only as Green Arrow by the outside world. He could be able be considered to be trustworthy.

"Of course," I said to him. "But, you should not say that out loud."

"I know what I'm doing," Queen replied. "Do you know what happened here?"

"You mean you do not know?" I asked him, and he shook his head at me.

"This compound was defanged already by the time we got here," Queen said to me. "Whoever did it, sent us all of the way here."

"I saw her," I said., remembering the strange and mysterious woman. "She has a feel for the theatrics they would be check mated"

"That might explain why it was so easy for ARGUS to get the message," Queen mused. "There is some connecting between Checkmate and ARGUS, though it is faint and sometimes nonexistent."

"Who could that be who is behind it all?" I asked out loud.

That was a mystery that would bother me for the time to come.

* * *

I finally arrived home, and I spoke to Father and Grayson over what had happened at the Leviathan compound. The Heretic was still at large, which would have been considered to be a problem, but there was the possibility of something much worse could happen. Checkmate and who could be behind it all. The Chessmaster, not the chess pieces.

With that finished, I had the opportunity to see Fritz, so I went to her house. It was the early weekend afternoon, and she was outside, doing some homework. She was the one thing that had kept me sane during that whole time we were apart. There was no way to describe how much I had missed her during those two years. I even missed our little arguments. There were times when I would have baited her in an argument, during those two years, just to live through it.

Fritz had clearly changed over the past couple of years. Her long, blonde hair was even longer and much brighter than ever before. That made it difficult for me to look away from her. The awkward angles of her joints and hips had filled out a little bit more.

She suddenly looked up, realizing she was not alone, and when she realized I was there, she was on her feet, walking towards me.

"Damian?" She asked me. She reached out to me, and she took a hold of one of my hands with one hand and reached up to my face. "You're back."

In that moment, I couldn't look away from her, having been that long of time since we last saw each other. I thought about her a lot during that period of time, feeling strengthened by her. I really did miss her, and there was no denying how much better I felt when I was that close to her again.

Fritz wrapped her arms around my neck to allow me to hold her closer to me. I buried my face into her bright blonde hair.

"Missed you, Dee," she quietly said to me, and I could hear her voice start to shake slightly as the voice spoke to me.


	80. Chapter 80

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

My arms were wrapped around Damian's neck. I closed my eyes to keep them from tearing up when I started to hug him. He was alright. And back. That worry that had been eating away at me started to completely disappear.

"Fritz," Damian calmly said to me. "I will not disappear if you do not strangle me."

"I'm not strangling you!" I snapped back at him as I took a step back from him.

Damian looked at me, and I could see he was very close to smiling back at me. He purposefully said something to get that kind of a reaction out from me. I was starting to realize that he would always do something like that. Apparently, he enjoyed that kind of reaction from me. Sentiment. Never thought he would have been capable of that.

I started to wonder why I was so worried about him and so relieved he was able to come back. He was a very close friend of mine, but there was more to it than that. Much more.

Right before he left, he made a point of seeing me, and called me by my full name.

"Damian. . ." I said to him. I sounded very serious, and I needed to get the truth from him. Oddly enough, my stomach had started to flip around, and my heart started to beat very quickly. I would've said it was from anticipation, but I knew there was more to it than that.

It really did take me far too long to make that realization for myself and about him.

Damian started to wear a thoughtful look. "What is it, Fritz?"

He didn't notice what I had been thinking about. Some detective he'd turn out to be. . .

"Even though I get along well with people," I said to him. "Or, at least, I try to. It takes me awhile to realize some things about people. It took me a long time for me to figure this out. . ."

Damian was still wearing that thoughtful look for me. It was taking him awhile to realize why my sudden change in subject was so important. He had to quickly shake his head to be able to understand my sudden change of thought.

"I have noticed something like that," Damian said to me.

"Well. . .you got that going for you. . ." I said to him.

Damian rolled his eyes at me. "Your point, Fritz?"

"Damian. . ." I said to him, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, again, and I lightly kissed him.

I did kiss Jonathan before during that period of time when we were dating, but it was nothing compared with Damian. I could feel the emotions that were conveyed through that one kiss. There was no need to tell him the feelings behind that one kiss. I think he could figure that one out for himself.

If that had surprised him, he didn't really show it, and he started to kiss me back. He lightly ran his hand through my long, blonde hair before we pulled apart. We were breathing heavily as we looked at each other. My face became very warm, but I couldn't really care about that.

Damian couldn't really tear his eyes away from me. There was a sense of surprise deep in his eyes, though he had to work to keep that all under control.

For a brief moment, there was a part of me that had wondered if he wasn't going to appreciate that. . .what was he going to say about that. . .?

"You. . ." He said to me. That was probably one of the few moments when he would show how not-so-in-control he really was. "You never cease to amaze me."

"Is that all you have to say?" I asked him, quirking up an eyebrow at him. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't exactly what I thought he should say to me.

"If you want me to say I am struck speechless. . ." Damian said to me, but he suddenly stopped talking to me.

"Why. . ." I tried to say and sound very innocent, but Damian captured my lips again. This time it was much more heated. Apparently he knew what could keep me from arguing. . .

He pulled me closer to him before he pulled away again. "This is a situation where I do not need to say too much to you."

"Excuses. . ." I quickly replied to him.

"I do not make excuses," Damian quickly replied.

"Yeah. . .yeah. . ." I said to him, wearing a very small smirk for him. "You keep saying that. . ."

"You can be insufferable sometimes," Damian drily commented.

"And. . ." I said to him. It looked like I had to pull it out of him. Of course. "That's why you love me."

Damian opened his mouth and quickly closed it. There was no way he was going to argue with that.

"That is one reason," he finally said to me. "A small reason in comparison to the others."

He was looking at me, and there was no way I could ever believe he was lying. Not even close. That was enough for me. It was him telling me what I had wanted to hear from him. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

"Why didn't I ever see that?" I asked him.

"You are unobservant most of the time," he answered.

"Oh, really?" I asked, baiting him.

"I know enough not to take that bait," he said to me. "You should know that by now."

"You always let me have my way."

"Not all of the time."

We were looking at each other, and there was that sense of something did change between us on the surface. Only on the surface, though. I think that deep down, there really was no change between the two of us. It had always been like this, and it was taking far too long or the two of us to realize it.


End file.
